
J-^ 



IC 



9061 



Bureau of Mines Information Circular/1986 



Titanium l\/linerals Availability 
Market Economy Countries 

A Minerals Availability Appraisal 

By R. J. Fantel, D. A. Buckingham, and D. E. Sullivan 




;*/ UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 



{4^ZdJi^' IWvw^'fi^ 



^ 



Information Circular 9061 



Titanium IVIinerals Availability- 
Market Economy Countries 

A Minerals Availability Appraisal 

By R. J. Fantel, D. A. Buckingham, and D. E. Sullivan 




UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 
Donald Paul Model, Secretary 

BUREAU OF MINES 
Robert C. Morton, Director 



As the Nation's principal conservation agency, the Department of the Interior has 
responsibility for most of our nationally owned public lands and natural resources. This 
includes fostering the wisest use of our land and water resources, protecting our fish 
and wildlife, preserving the environment and cultural values of our national parks and 
historical places, and providing for the enjoyment of life through outdoor recreation. 
The Department assesses our energy and mineral resources and works to assure that 
their development is in the best interests of all our people. The Department also has 
a major responsibility for American Indian reservation communities and for people who 
live in island territories under U.S. administration. 



.(\^^■^^ 



a:^^ ,ofc\ 




Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data 



Fantel, R. J. (Richard J.) 

Titanium minerals availability— market economy countries. 

(Bureau of Mines information circular; 9061) 

Bibliography: p. 28 

Supt. of Docs, no.: I 28.27; 

1. Titanium industry. 2. Titanium mines and mining. I. Buckingham, D. A. 
(David A.) II. Sullivan, Daniel E. III. United States. Bureau of 
Mines. IV. Title. V. Series: Information circular (United States. Bureau of Mines); 
9061. 

TN295.U4 [HD9539.T72] 622 s [338.274623] 85-600114 



For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing OfTice 
Washington, DC 20402 



PREFACE 



The Bureau of Mines Minerals Availability Program is assessing the worldwide 
availability of nonfuel minerals. The Bureau collects, compiles, and evaluates information 
on active and developing mines, explored deposits, and mineral processing plants 
worldwide. The program's objectives are to classify domestic and foreign resources, to 
identify by cost evaluation resources that are reserves, and to prepare analyses of mineral 
availabilities. 

This report is part of a continuing series of reports analyzing the availability of 
minerals from domestic and foreign sources and those factors affecting availability. 
Analyses of other minerals are in progress. Questions about the Minerals Availability 
Program should be addressed to Chief, Division of Minerals Availability, Bureau of 
Mines, 2401 E Street, NW., Washington, DC 20241. 



CONTENTS 



Page 

Preface i" 

Abstract 1 

Introduction 2 

Acknowledgments 2 

Evaluation methodology 2 

Data analysis 2 

Deposit selection criteria 3 

The world titanium industry 4 

Production 5 

Exports, imports, and consumption 8 

Pigment plant production 8 

Stockpiles and recycling 11 

Byproducts 11 

Mining and beneficiation methods 12 

Mining 12 

Beneficiation 12 

Upgraded ilmenite-synthetic rutile 13 

Geology and resources 14 

Titanium deposit costs 16 

Costing methodology 16 

Operating costs 16 

Capital costs 17 

Typical beach sand mining costs — Australian 

deposits 17 



Page 

Titanium concentrate availability 19 

Economic evaluation methodology 19 

Total availabiUty 20 

Rutile 20 

Ilmenite 22 

Leucoxene 23 

Synthetic rutile 23 

Titanium slag 24 

Anatase 24 

Miscellaneous titanium operations 24 

Annual availability 24 

Rutile 24 

Ilmenite 25 

Leucoxene 25 

Synthetic rutile 25 

Titanium slag 25 

Anatase 26 

Mixed concentrate 26 

Availability of byproduct zircon 26 

Conclusions 27 

References 28 

Appendix A. — World titanium deposit geology and 

resources 31 

Appendix B. — Titanium dioxide pigment 47 

Appendix C. — Titanium sponge and metal production 48 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



1. Flowchart of MAP evaluation procedure 3 

2. Mineral resource classification categories 4 

3. Flow of titanium mineral products 4 

4. Total production of titanium concentrates by mineral types, 1981 5 

5. Exports of titanium minerals from AustraUa in early 1980's 8 

6. Exports of ore and ilmenite concentrate from Norway in early 1980's 8 

7. U.S. imports of titanium concentrates, 1981 8 

8. Generalized flowsheet of a mineral sand wet mill 12 

9. Generahzed flowsheet of a mineral sand dry mill 13 

10. World titanium resources, by region and type 15 

11. Capital costs for a dredge, Austraha 17 

12. Capital costs for wet and dry mill concentrators, Australia 17 

13. Annual operating costs for dry mining operations, Australia 18 

14. Annual operating costs for dredge and wet and dry mill concentrators, Australia 18 

15. General costs associated with beach sand mining operations, Austraha 19 

16. Total recoverable rutile concentrate 21 

17. Total recoverable ilmenite concentrate 22 

18. Annual availability curves for producing rutile mines, at various total costs of production 24 

19. Annual availability curves for nonproducing rutile mines, at various total costs of production 25 

A-1. Location of titanium mines and titanium-bearing deposits of North America 31 

A-2. Location of titanium mines and titanium-bearing deposits of Brazil 36 

A-3. Location of Finland's Otanmaki Mine 37 

A-4. Location of Norway's Tellnes Mine 38 

A-5. Location of Italy's Piampaludo rutile deposit 38 

A-6. Location of India and Sri Lanka heavy-mineral sand deposits 40 

A-7. Location of Sierra Leone mineral sand deposit 42 

A-8. Location of Republic of South Africa's Richards Bay mineral sand deposit 42 

A-9. Location of Australia's east coast mineral sand deposits 43 

A- 10. Location of Australia's west coast mineral sand deposits 45 



CONTENTS— Continued 

TABLES 



Page 



1. World production of titanium concentrates 5 

2. Ownership and status of titanium mines and deposits in market economy countries 6 

3. U.S. total consumption of titanium concentrates and related imports for consumption in 1981 8 

4. U.S. imports for consumption of titanium concentrates, by country, 1981 9 

5. Titanium pigment plant input source and type and output capacity 9 

6. Summary of identified titanium resources in market economy countries, January 1984 14 

7. Estimated average operating costs for selected titanium mines and deposits 16 

8. Estimated capital costs to develop nonproducing surface titanium deposits in Australia 17 

9. Market prices of titanium concentrates and related minerals for January 1984 19 

10. Total estimated recoverable rutile concentrates, as of January 1984 20 

11. Total estimated recoverable ilmenite concentrates, as of January 1984 22 

12. Total estimated recoverable leucoxene concentrates, as of January 1984 23 

13. Total estimated recoverable synthetic rutile concentrates, as of January 1984 23 

14. Total estimated recoverable titanium slag, as of January 1984 24 

15. Total potentially recoverable zircon concentrates, as of January 1984 26 

16. Average revenue distribution for selected mines producing zircon 26 

3-1. Typical capital and operating costs of titanium dioxide pigment plants by region 47 



UNIT OF MEASURE ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS REPORT 



°c 


degree Celsius 


mt/h 


metric ton per hour 


d/yr 


day per year 


mt/yr 


metric ton per year 


g/mt 


gram per metric ton 


pet 


percent 


ha 


hectare 


US<z/kW»h 


U.S. cent per kilowatt hour 


h/yr 


hour per year 


US0/L 


U.S. cent per liter 


kg/m^ 


kilogram per cubic meter 


US^/mt 


U.S. cent per metric ton 


km 


kilometer 


US$/lb 


U.S. dollar per pound 


km^ 


square kilometer 


US$/mt 


U.S. dollar per metric ton 


m 


meter 


US$/yr 


U.S. dollar per year 


nun 


minute 


wtpct 


weight percent 


mm 


millimeter 


yr 


year 


mt 


metric ton 







TITANIUM MINERALS AVAILABILITY— MARKET ECONOMY COUNTRIES 
A Minerals Availability Appraisal 

By R. J. Fantel,^ D. A. Buckingham,^ and D. E. Sullivan' 



ABSTRACT 

The Bureau of Mines investigated the resource availability of titanium minerals from 
63 mines and deposits in 12 market economy countries. These mines and deposits contain, 
at the demonstrated resource level, an estimated 438 million metric tons (mt) of titanium 
dioxide (TiOa) in the minerals rutile, ilmenite, leucoxene, and anatase. An additional 314 
million mt of Ti02 is available from inferred resources. 

If all titanium minerals and other recovered heavy minerals are sold at total costs at 
least equal to the January 1984 market prices, approximately 200 million mt of contained 
Ti02 could be recovered in total. In terms of mineral concentrates, this equals 
approximately 11 million mt of rutile concentrate, 187 miUion mt of ilmenite concentrate, 3 
million mt of leucoxene concentrate, 13 million mt of synthetic rutile concentrate (in 
addition to the ilmenite), and 89 million mt of titanium slag. 

The study indicates that world resources of low-cost rutile are declining. In order to 
maintain future supply for high-grade titanium resources, alternate sources will need to 
be developed, which may include higher cost rutile mines, Brazilian anatase deposits, 
increased production from slag operations, or more synthetic rutile capacity from ilmenite 
resources, which are abundant. 



'Physical scientist. 

^ologist. 

'Industry economist. 

Minerals Availability Field Office, Bureau of Mines, Denver, CO. 



INTRODUCTION 



For many years titanium, in the form of titanium 
dioxide (Ti02), has primarily been used as a source for 
pigments. Its whiteness, high refractive index, and light- 
scattering ability make it an excellent whitening agent for 
paints, paper, rubber, plastics, and other miscellaneous 
items. More recently, though, titanium metal has become 
important in the defense and aerospace industries owing to 
its high strength-to-weight ratio and its resistance to 
corrosion. Small quantities of Ti02, in the form of rutile, are 
also used for welding rod coating. Ceramic capacitors for 
electronics use small quantities of titanium. 

Titanium is the ninth most abundant element in the 
Earth's crust and occurs in many mineral species. Only a few 
of these minerals contain enough titanium to be of 
commercial importance. They are ilmenite (FeTiOs), rutile 
(Ti02), and leucoxene (an upgraded alteration product of 
ilmenite). Ilmenite, theoretically 53 pet Ti02 and 47 pet 
FeO, can be found in numerous mineral occurrences. Its 
titanium content may often be greater than the theoretical 
amount, owing to oxidation, which removes iron and 
calcium and frequently occurs in sand deposits, producing 
titanium contents of as much as 65 to 70 pet Ti02. This form 
is known as altered ilmenite (or leucoxene, arizonite, or 



pseudoritite). Rutile is also found in numerous mineral 
occurrences; it is theroretieally 100 pet Ti02, although it 
seldom contains more than 95 pet. Other titanium minerals 
occasionally found in economic concentrations are brookite, 
perovskite, anatase, and sphene. 

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the worldwide 
resources of titanium minerals and to assess the related 
costs of production to recover these minerals. This study is 
of strategic importance to the United States, which, 
although one of the largest producers of Ti02 pigments as 
well as titanium metal, imports significant quantities of the 
raw materials for their manufacture. The study presents 
separate analyses of key producing countries of titanium 
minerals and discusses the potential substitution of other 
titanium minerals for rutile in the production of high-grade 
Ti02. An analysis of the availability of byproduct zircon 
resources also is presented. 

Data for foreign mines and deposits in the evaluation 
were provided by Kaiser Engineers, Inc., under contract 
J02 15037. Data for domestic mines and deposits were 
developed for this study by personnel of the Bureau's Field 
Operations Centers in Pittsburgh, PA, Denver, CO, and 
Spokane, WA. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



The authors vdsh to thank Langtry E. Lynd, titanium 
commodity speciaHst, Bureau of Mines, Division of Nonfer- 
rous Metals, and Eric R. Force, resource specialist, U.S. 



Geological Survey, for their assistance in preparing this 
report. 



EVALUATION METHODOLOGY 



DATA ANALYSIS 

The data collected for this report are stored, retrieved, 
and analyzed in a computerized component of the Bureau's 
Minerals Availabihty Program (MAP). The flow of the 
Minerals Availability evaluation process from deposit 
identification to analysis of availability information is 
illustrated in figure 1. 

The analysis methodology is as follows: 

1. The quantity and grade of titanium resources were 
evaluated in relation to physical and technological conditions 
that affect production from each deposit as of the study date, 
January 1984. 

2. Appropriate mining and processing methods were 
described for producing operations and proposed for 
nonproducing deposits. Related capital and operating costs 
were estimated, including a transportation cost to deliver 
the titanium concentrate to a pigment plant or the 
marketplace. For purposes of consistency, it was assumed 
that all titanium concentrates were transported to a local 
port or marketplace for export unless they were being used 
for internal domestic consumption. If they were to be 
internally consumed, the concentrates were considered to be 
transported to nearby pigment plants. For certain potential 
byproduct sources of ilmenite, the concentrate was assumed 
to be stockpiled rather than sold. 



3. An economic analysis of each operation determined 
the average total production cost over its entire producing 
life, including a predetermined discounted-cash-flow rate of 
return (DCFROR) on invested capital, and the associated 
total demonstrated tonnage of titanium concentrates that 
could potentially be recovered. A 15-pct DCFROR was used 
for this study. 

4. Upon completion of the individual property analyses, 
all properties included in the study were simultaneously 
analyzed, and the data were aggregated and transferred 
onto titanium availability curves. Separate curves were 
generated for each titanium mineral (i.e., rutile and 
ilmenite) unless too few deposits prohibited a curve. If a 
deposit produced more than one titanium mineral, it was 
included on more than one curve. These curves are 
aggregations of total potential titanium concentrates that 
could be produced over the life of each operation, ordered 
from the lowest total cost deposits to the highest. The 
curves illustrate the comparative costs associated with any 
given level of potential total output and provide an estimate 
of what the average long-run titanium concentrate price (in 
January 1984 dollars) would have to be in order for a given 
tonnage to be potentially available. The long-run price, 
which each operation would require to cover its average 
total cost of titanium concentrate production, would provide 
revenues sufficient to cover the average total cost of 



Cumulative 
production 


IDENTIFIED RESOURCES 


UNDISCOVERED RESOURCES 






Demonstrated 


Inferred 


Probability range 






Measured 


Indicated 


Hypothetical Speculative 












ECONOMIC 




Inferred 

reserve 

_ base _ 


1 

+ - 


MARGINALLY 
ECONOMIC 


base — 


SUBECONOMIC 


1 





Other 
occurrences 



Includes nonconventional and low-grade materials 



Figure 1 .—Flowchart of MAP evaluation procedure. 



production, including a return on investment high enough to 
attract new capital. 



DEPOSIT SELECTION CRITERIA 

Selection of deposits was limited to known deposits that 
have significant demonstrated reserves or resources. As 
related to this study, reserves are (titanium) mineralizations 
that can be mined, processed, and marketed at a profit 
under prevailing economic and technologic conditions. 
Resources are (titanium) concentrations in such form and 
amount that economic extraction is currently or potentially 
feasible but not proven {!).* 

tor the deposits analyzed, tonnage estimates were 
made at the demonstrated resource level, based on the 
mineral resource-reserve classification system (fig. 2) 
developed jointly by the Bureau and the U.S. Geological 
Survey (1). The demonstrated resource category includes 
measured plus indicated tonnages. Generally, reserve and 
resource tonnage and grade calculations were computed 
from specific measurements, samples, or production data, 
and fi*om estimations made on geologic evidence. 

Resources analyzed had to be recoverable using current 
mining and milling technology. In addition, the U.S. 
deposits had to conform to certain basic guidelines that have 
been established by Bureau and Geological Survey titanium 
commodity specialists in a recently published report (2). In 
general, the guidelines are as follows: 

1. Titanium minerals must be coarser grained than 0.02 
mm, since finer grains cannot presently be separated. 

2. If a deposit contains ilmenite-magnetite intergrown 
grains, the grains must be separable unless they contain 25 

^Italicized numbers in parentheses refer to items in the list of references 
preceding the appendixes at the end of this report. 



pet or more Ti02, in which case, they can be smelted into 
high-TiOz slag. 

3. Unconsolidated deposits must contain at least 1.0 pet 
ilmenite (approximately 0.5 pet Ti02) or 0.1 pet rutile 
(approximately 0.09 pet Ti02) or combinations of the two. 
Hard-rock deposits have to have at least 10 pet ilmenite or 
perovskite (5.3 pet Ti02), or 1.0 pet rutile (0.95 pet TiOg). 
When titanium can be produced as a byproduct from other 
minerals for which the economies are demonstrated, the 
above cutoffs can be disregarded. 

4. Deposits must contain more than 100,000 mt of 
contained TiOg. 

These criteria are minimal ones used to admit a deposit 
to the resource class. Requirements in the present report 
are more stringent, and thus many deposits listed in 
reference 2 are omitted here. 

Foreign deposits included in the analysis had to meet 
one of the following criteria: 

1. Producing properties accounting for at least 85 pet of 
the titanium production from each country that has in recent 
years produced significant quantities of titanium concen- 
trates. 

2. Developing and explored deposits where the demon- 
strated titanium reserve-resource quantity was at least 
150,000 mt of contained TiOa. 

3. Past-producing deposits where the remaining de- 
monstrated titanium reserve-resource quantity was at least 
150,000 mt of contained Ti02. 

For this study, a total of 63 mines and deposits were 
evaluated (17 domestic and 46 foreign), which meet at least 
the lower limits of the selection requirements set forth 
above. All deposits evaluated are from market economy 
countries. Additional resources either from centrally plan- 
ned economy countries or at the inferred or hypothetical 
resource levels are discussed in the text but are not included 
in the economic evaluations. 



Identification 
and 










1 Mineral 1 
1 Industries • 
1 Location 1 
1 System 1 
1 (MILS) 1 
1 data , 

MAP 

computer 

data 

base 


selection 
of deposits 












c 


Tonnage 

and 

grade 

ietermination 
















Engineering 

and 

cost 

evaluation 








t 








Deposit 

report 

preparation 








MAP 

permanent 

deposit 

files 























Taxes, 
royalties, 

cost 

indexes, 

prices, etc. 



Data 
selection 

and 
validation 



Variable 

and 

parameter 

adjustments 



Economic 
analysis 



Data 



Availability 
curves 



Analytical 
reports 



Sensitivity 
analysis 



y 



Data 




Availability 
curves 


; 


J 


■=z 


Analytical 
reports 


== 





Figure 2.— Mineral resource classification categories (1). 



THE WORLD TITANIUM INDUSTRY 



Titanium metal is a strategic and critical metal. Ti02 
pigment is the predominant white pigment used in paints, 
paper, plastics, rubber, etc. Titanium metal is widely used 
in high-performance aircraft and other applications where 
corrosion resistance is necessary. Only about 5 pet of 
titanium minerals is used to make titanium metal, and 
nearly all of the remainder is used in pigment {3). Figure 3 
shows the flow of titanium minerals to the pigment plant and 
metal stage. 

The majority of the world's rutile, typically 91 to 95 pet 
Ti02, is produced in Australia, Sierra Leone, and the 
Republic of South Africa. It can be used in titanium metal 
plants, directly to coat welding rods, or in chloride process 
pigment plants. 

Ilmenite and leucoxene are much more abundant than 
rutile. Ilmenite may contain as much as 50 to 70 pet Ti02, 
and leucoxene as much as 87 pet Ti02 (and even 91 pet from 
some Australian operations). They are generally used in 
sulfate process pigment plants although when upgraded to 
synthetic rutile they can be used in the chloride plants. The 
chloride plants can accept high-iron feeds (such as ilmenite), 
but since this method consumes chlorine, it is rarely 
practiced. 

Ilmenite is also used to produce a titanium slag, which is 
a higher grade titanium concentrate. The slag from Sorel, 





Rutile 






^ 


Welding rod 
coating 




\^-^ 






\^^^^\^ 






Richards Bay 
slag 


\>^\/ 


Titanium 
metal 






^^^^Ox 


S. 




Sorel 
slag 


\^^)k' 


Chloride 
process 
pigment 






"!>jC^ 


<. 




Ilmenite 

and 

leucoxene 


^"^^ / 7^ 


Sulfate 
process 
pigment 






/ 


/ ' 




^ 


Synthetic 
rutile 


/ 











Figure 3.— Flow of titanium mineral products. 



Quebec, Canada, has in the past graded approximately 70 
pet TiOa, although it is presently (as of 1984) 80 pet. The 
Sorel slag (as it is called in the industry) feeds sulfate 
pigment plants. Richards Bay slag (Republic of South 
Africa) grades 85 to 87 pet Ti02 and feeds both sulfate and 
chloride pigment plants (3, p. 11). 



PRODUCTION 

Table 1 lists, by country, the production of titanium 
concentrates for the years 1961, 1971, 1981, and 1983 
(estimated). The table shows that for all the titanium 
concentrates an increase has occurred in production over the 
past two decades. The values for 1983 are listed to illustrate 
that in recent years, owing to world economic conditions, 
production of titanium concentrates has declined slightly in 
most countries. 

Austraha is the largest producer of ilmenite and 
leucoxene. As shown on the table and in figure 4, Australia 
produced 37 pet of the ilmenite and leucoxene mined during 
1981. Norway produced over 18 pet, and the United States 
and the U.S.S.R. produced almost 14 and 12 pet, 
respectively. During the 20-yr period shown in table 1, when 
world production of ilmenite doubled, production from 
Australia increased eightfold. 

Australia accounted for approximately 64 pet of the 
1981 world production of rutile. Sierra Leone and the 
Republic of South Africa each produced about 14 pet. 

Titaniferous slag was produced primarily in two 
countries during 1981; Canada produced just over two- 
thirds and the Republic of South Africa produced the 
remainder. In the Sichuan Province of China, very small 
amounts of slag are also produced (on the order of 1,000 
mt/yr). 

Seven major companies and the State of Western 
Australia mined and produced titanium mineral concen- 
trates from 10 mines in Australia during 1981. The 
companies are Associated Minerals Consolidated Ltd., 
Rutile & Zircon Mines (Newcastle) Ltd. (RZ Mines), 
Mineral Deposits Ltd., Cable Sands Pty. Ltd. (owned by 
Kathleen Investments), Allied Eneabba Pty Ltd. [59 pet 
owned by E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Inc. (Du Pont)], 
Westralian Sands Ltd., and Consolidated Rutile Ltd. In 
addition, four mines in Austraha were being developed by 
three companies. Mineral Deposits Ltd., Murphyores 
Holding Ltd. , and Associated Minerals Consolidated Ltd. 

Four mines produced titanium mineral concentrates in 
the United States during 1981. They were owned by three 
companies — Associated Minerals (USA) Ltd. Inc., Du Pont, 
and NL Industries, Inc. Companies that have produced 



titanium concentrates in the recent past include ASARCO 
Incorporated'^ and American Cyanamid Co. 

^he Asarco operation closed in 1981. This analysis considers the mine to 
be shut down; substantial redevelopment would be required for the mine to 
again produce. 

Table 1.— World production of titanium concentrates (4-6) 

(Thousand nnetric tons) 
Concentrate type and country 1961 1971 1981 1983^ 

Ilmenite and leucoxene: 
Australia: 

Ilmenite 169 829 1,321 875 

Leucoxene 19 18 

Brazil NA 10 15 15 

China* NA NA 136 140 

Finland 19 140 161 160 

India 174 66 162 150 

Japan 3 

Madagascar 4 

Malaysia' 109 156 172 190 

Nonway 311 641 658 544 

Portugal (=) 1 (') (') 

Senegal 17 

South Africa, Republic of . . 90 

Spain 30 .24 

Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) 3 93 80 82 

United Arab Republic 34 

USSR* NA NA 426 435 

United States^ 709 620 492 W_ 

Total 1,670 2,582 3,644 2,609 

Rutile: ~~ 

Australia 103 367 230 172 

Brazil e) e) {') (.') 

India 1 3 6 7 

Senegal (') 

Sierra Leone 12 51 72 

South Africa, Republic of . . 3 50 56 

Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) 3 14 8 

United Arab Republic *1 

U.S.S.R.^ NA NA 10 10 

United States 8 W W 

Total 

Titaniferous slag: 

Canada" 

Japan" 

South Africa, Republic of' 

Total 422 779 1,129 993 

^Estimated. 

NA Not available. 

W Withheld to avoid disclosing company proprietary data. 

'Exports. 

^Less than 500 mt. 

^Includes a mixed product containing ilmenite, leucoxene, and rutile. 

"Contains 70 to 74 pet TiOg (Sorel slag nov\^ 80 pet). 

'Contains 85 to 87 pet TiOz 

NOTE:— Data may not add to totals shown because of independent 
rounding. 



117 


385 


362 


326 


420 
2 



774 
5 



759 



370 


612 



381 






ilmenite and leucoxene Rutile Titaniferous slag 

3,644,000 mt 362,000 mt 1 ,1 29,000 mt 

Figure 4.— Total production of titanium concentrates by mineral types, 1981. 



Other countries with operations included in this study 



Canada, one producer, QIT-Fer et Titane Inc. (QIT), 
which is owned by Standard Oil Co. of Ohio (SOHIO); 

Brazil, one producer, owned by Titanio do Brasil 
(TIBRAS), as well as a developing deposit owned by Cia. 
Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD); both are govemmentally owned 
companies; 

Finland, one producer, Rautaruukki Oy, which is 
Government owned; 

Norway, one producer, Titania A/S, owned by NL 
Industries; 

India, three producers and one developing deposit, all 
owned by the Government of India; 

Sri Lanka, one producer, which is Government owned; 



Sierra Leone, one producer, owned by Sierra Rutile 
Ltd. (which is wholly owned by Nord Resources Corp. of 
Ohio); 

Republic of South Africa, one producer, which is owned 
by a consortium with majority interest held by QIT of 
Montreal, Canada, and Union Corp. and Industrial Develop- 
ment Corp. (IDC), both of Johannesburg, Republic of South 
Africa. 

Synthetic rutile was produced in Australia, India, 
Japan, the United States, and Taiwan. Each of these 
countries has at least one synthetic rutile plant, the largest 
being the Kerr-McGee Chemical Corp. plant in Mobile, AL. 
The mines and deposits in this analysis, including their 
ownership and status, are listed in table 2. 



Table 2.— Ownership and status of titanium mines and deposits in market economy countries 



Status' 



Deposit 
type^ 



Mining method 



Milling method 



Ownership 



NORTH AMERICA 
United States: 
Arkansas: Magnet Cove 
California: lone 



Colorado: Powderhom . . 
Rorida: 
Green Cove Springs . . 

Highland Operation . . . 

Trail Ridge Operation , 
Georgia: 
Brunswick-Altamaha . , 

Cumt}erland Island . . . 
New Jersey: Manchester 
New York: Maclntyre 

Development. 
North Carolina: NL 

Industries. 
Oklahoma: Otter Creek 

Valley. 
Tennessee: 



PP 
{*) 

EXP 

PRD 

PRD 

PRD 

EXP 

EXP 

PP 

PRD 

EXP 

EXP 



Silica Mine (") P 

Oak Grove EXP P 

Virginia: 

B. F. Camden Anomaly . PP HR 

Piney River EXP HR 

Wyoming: Iron Mountain . . EXP HR 

Canada: 

AllardLake PRD HR 

Pin-Rouge Lake EXP HR 

SOUTH AMERICA 
Brazil: 

Bananeira EXP HR 

Camaratuba PRD P 

Campo Alegre de Lourdes . EXP HR 

Catalao EXP HR 

Tapira DEV HR 

EUROPE 

Rnland: Otanmaki PRD HR 

Italy: Piampaludo EXP HR 

Nonway: Tellnes PRD HR 

See footnotes at end of table 



Open pit 
Dredging 

Open pit 

Dredging 

..do 

..do 

..do 

..do 

..do 

Open pit 



Magnetic-electrostatic Numerous private owners . . 

Magnetic North American Refractories 

Co. 
Buttes Gas and Oil Co 



Magnetic-electrostatic 

..do 

..do 

. .do 

..do 



..do... 
..do.... 
Rotation 



Associated Minerals (USA) 

Ltd. Inc. 
E.I. du Pont de Nemours & 

Co., Inc. 
. .do 

Union Camp Corp., Jones 

family. 
U.S. National Park Service 
ASARCO Incorporated . . . . 
NL Industries, Inc 



..do 

Placer mining 

Open pit 

Dredging 



Magnetic-electrostatic 
Magnetic 



.do. 



Numerous private owners 



Magnetic-electrostatic Tennessee Silica Sand Co. 
..do Ethyl Corp 



Open pit 

Open pit-sublevel 

caving. 
Open pit 



do Private ownership 

S. U. Wilkcens, Jr. 



.do.,.. 
.do.... 



Rotation 
Gravity-magnetic' .... 

Magnetic-electrostatic* 
. .do 



Rocky Mountain Energy Co., 
The Anaconda Company. 

QIT-Fer et Titane, Inc. 

(SOHIO). 
Laurentlan Titanium Mines 

Ltd. 



. .do Flotation Mineracao Itaqui 

Strip level Magnetic-electrostatic* Titanio do Brasil 

Open pit do* Cia. Bahiana de Pesquisa 



Strip level 



do. 



Metais de Goias S. A., Goias 

Fertilizantes S.A. 
Cia. Vale do Rio Doce 



Sublevel stoping . . do Rautaruukki Oy (Government) 

Strip hillside do 

Open pit Gravity flotation 



Mineraria Italiana S.p.A. 

Milan. 
NL Industries Inc 



R, I, L, Z, 

RE 
M, Z 

M, Z 

M, R. Z, RE 

M, Z 

,Fe 



R, L. Z, O, 

RE 

R, Z, RE 



S, Fe 

S, Fe 
S, Fe 



A 

R, I, Z 
S, Fe 

A 

A 

I, Fe, O 
R. I, G 
I, Fe, O 



Table 2.— Ownership and status of titanium mines and deposits In market economy countries— Continued 



Status' Dep°sit 
type^ 



Mining method 



Miliing method 



Ownership 



Products^ 



ASIA 
India: 
Chavara (IREL) . 

Chavara (KMML) 

Manavalakurichi . 

Orissa-Chatrapur 



Sri Lanka: Pulmoddai 



AFRICA 
Sierra Leone: Mogbwemo 
South Africa, Republic of: 

Bay. 



OCEANIA 
Australia: 
New South Wales: 
Bridge Hill Ridge 

Evans Head 

Munmorah 



Stockton Bight . . . 
Tomago Sand Pits 



Yuraygir National Park 



Queensland: 
Agnes Waters 
Cooloola 



Curtis Island 
Fraser Island 



Gladstone Mainland . . . 
Moreton Island (MDL) . . 
Moreton Island 

(Murphyores) 

North Stradbroke (AMC) 

North Stradbroke (CRL) 
Western Australia: 
Allied Eneabba 



Cable Sands 
Capel 



Cataby 

Cooljarloo . 
Eneabba . . 

Gingin 

Jurien Bay . 
North Capel 



Scott River 

Yoganup Extended, 
Boyanup, Tutunup. 
New Zealand: Barrytown 



PRD P 

PRD P 

PRD P 

DEV P 

PRD P 



PRD P 
PRD P 



PRD P 
EXP P 
PP P 



EXP 
PRD 



EXP 
PP 



EXP 
PP 



EXP P 

EXP P 

EXP P 

PRD P 

PRD P 

PRD P 

EXP P 

EXP HR 

PRD P 

PRD P 

EXP P 

EXP P 

PRD P 

EXP P 

PP P 

PRD P 



EXP 
PRD 



Strip level 
Dredging . 
Strip level 
Dredging . 



.do. 



Magnetic-electrostatic 


Indian Rare Earths, Ltd. 


R, 1, L, Z, 






RE 


..do 


Kerala Minerals & Metals Ltd. 


R, 1, L, Z, 




(Government). 


RE 


..do6 


Indian Rare Earths, Ltd. 


1, R, SR, Z, 




(Government). 


RE 


..do 


..do 


1, R, Z, RE, 
SR 


..do 


Ceylon Mineral Sands Corp. 
(Government). 


1, R, Z, RE 


..do 


Sierra Rutile Ltd. 


R 


..do= 


QIT, Union Corp., Industrial 


S, R, Fe, Z 



Dredging 

..do 

..do 



Magnetic-electrostatic 

..do 

..do 



..do 

..do 

Strip level 

Ground sluicing 



Open pit 
Dredging 
..do 



Development Corp. 



Mineral Deposits Ltd 

State of New South Wales . 
Associated Minerals 

Consolidated Ltd. 

Mineral Deposits Ltd 

Rutile & Zircon Mines 

(Newcastle) Ltd. 
State of New South Wales 

and Federal Government. 



Mineral Deposits Ltd. . . . 
State of Queensland and 

Federal Government. 
Murphyores Holdings Ltd. 
Murphyores Holdings Ltd., 

Dillingham Minerals. 
Murphyores Holdings Ltd. 
Mineral Deposits Ltd. . . . 
Murphyores Holdings Ltd. 



Associated Minerals 
Consolidated Ltd. 
Consolidated Rutile Ltd. 

Allied Eneabba Pty. Ltd. 



Magnetic^ 

Magnetic-electrostatic 

do« 



..do 

Strip level 

..do 

..do 

..do 

..do 



Dredging 
Open pit 



Dredging 



Magnetic- 
electrostatic^ 



Associated Minerals 

Consolidated Ltd. 
Ferrovanadium Corp. N.L. 
Kathleen Investments . . 
Associated Minerals 

Consolidated Ltd. 
Metals Exploration Ltd., 

Alliance Minerals NL. 
Western Mining Corp. 

Holdings Ltd. 
Associated Minerals 

Consolidated Ltd. 
Westralian Sands Ltd., 

Lennard Oil NL. 
Western Mining Corp. 

Holdings Ltd. 
State of Western Australia 

..do 

Westralian Sands Ltd 

Fletcher-Challenge Ltd. . . 



R, I, Z 
R, I, Z 
R, I, Z. RE 



R, I, Z 
R, I, Z, RE 

I, R, Fe, Z 
R, I, Z, RE 

I, R, Fe, Z 
R, I, Z 
R, I, Z 

R, I, Z, RE 

R, I, Z, RE 

R, 1, L, Z, 

RE 
I, R, L, Z 

S, Fe 

I, R, Z, RE 

I, R, L, SR, 

RE 
R, I, Z, RE 

R, I, L, Z, 

RE 
SR, I, R, L, 

RE 
R, I, L, Z 

I, R, L, Z, 

RE 
I, R, L, Z, 

RE 
I, R, L, Z 
I, R, L, Z, 

RE 
I, R, SR, Z, 

RE 



'DEV = developing deposit; EXP = explored prospect; PP = past producer; PRD = producer. 

^HR = hard-rock deposit; P = placer (or sand) deposit. 

^he first product listed was assumed to be the primary product for this study. A = anatase concentrate; Fe = iron, magnetite, or pig iron; G = garnet; I = 
ilmenite concentrate; L = leucoxene concentrate; M = mixed ilmenite-leucoxene concentrate; P = perovskite concentrate; R = rutile concentrate; RE = rare 
earth oxide concentrate (monazite); S = titanium slag; SR = synthetic rutile concentrate; Z = zircon concentrate; O = other miscellaneous (sulfides, precious 
metals, vanadium, pyrite, etc.). 

"These deposits are producers of silica sand, but not heavy minerals. Assumed as EXP for this study. 

^After beneficiation, the ilmenite concentrate is smelted in an electric furnace. 

^After beneficiation, some or all of the ilmenite concentrate is further upgraded in a synthetic rutile plant. 



EXPORTS, IMPORTS, AND CONSUMPTION 

Exporters of titanium concentrates have been, in recent 
years, primarily Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia, Nor- 
way, Sierra Leone, and the Republic of South Africa. The 
exports discussed in the following paragraph represent 
world exports as they existed in the late 1970's and early 
1980's. 

More than 23 pet of Australian exports of ilmenite and 
leucoxene were shipped to the United States; about 18 pet 
went to the United Kingdom; almost 15 pet went to the 
U.S.S.R.; and almost 8 pet went to Japan. The remainder 
went to unknown destinations. Almost 47 pet of Australian 
exports of rutile were shipped to the United States, more 
than 15 pet to the United Kingdom, more than 10 pet to the 
Netherlands, and over 6 pet to Japan (iig. 5) (7). The 
remainder went to unknown destinations. Canada exported 
titanium slag to Belgium, England, France, Federal 
Republic of Germany, Holland, Italy, Japan, and the United 
States (8). Sierra Leone exported its rutile mainly to the 
United States, with some to Europe (9). Europe receives 59 
pet of the Republic of South Africa's slag exports, North 
America receives 23 pet, and Japan receives 18 pet (10). 
Norway exported almost 45 pet of its ore and ilmenite 
concentrate to the Federal Republic of Germany, over 12 pet 
to the U.S.S.R., and almost 11 pet to Poland (fig. 6) (11). 
Malaysia exports nearly all of its ilmenite concentrate to 
Japan. India exports to Japan, the Federal Republic of 
Germany, and China. 

The United States consumed 776,700 mt of ilmenite 
concentrate during 1981; 214,300 mt or over 27 pet of this 
was imported (table 3, fig. 7). Most of these imports, over 89 
pet, came from Australia, and about 10 pet came from the 
Republic of South Afi-ica (table 4). 



Table 3.— U.S. total consumption of titanium concentrates and 
related imports for consumption in 1981 (6) 

Total ''^P°^^ '°^ 

Concentrate rr,r>tv, consumption 



Japan 

/unitedV / /^ \ 
KingdomX // \ 


Japan 

v^^ether>>v 7 

/unitedro7 y\ 

/Wngdom\ / X \ 


_3^^ Other 
k United \ 35 / 
\ States \ / 


1 OtheT/united I 
\ 20 / states / 


Ilmenite and 
leucoxene 


Rutile 



Figure 5.— Exports of titanium minerals from Australia in 
early 1980's. Numbers within pies refer to percent of total 
exports. 












lO^mt 


10= mt 


pet' 


Ilmenite 

Titanium slag 
Rutile; 
Natural ... 

Synthetic . . 








776.7 
229.3 

258.9 


214.3 
243.9 

146.1 1 
37.5 


27.6 
106 4 






70.9 


'Percentage of total consumption. 
South Africa 


^ 


South Africa 




Figure 6.— Exports of ore and Ilmenite concentrate from 
Norway in early 1980's. Numbers within pie refer to percent of 
total exports. 



Rutile, synthetic 
37,514 mt 

Figure 7.— U.S. imports of titanium concentrates, 1981. 
Numbers within pies refer to percent of total Imports. 

The United States consumed 229,300 mt of titanium 
slag during 1981, all of which was imported. During 1981, 
slag imports for consumption were more than 6 pet greater 
than consumption, indicating that some were stockpiled. 
The United States consumed 258,900 mt of rutile and 
synthetic rutile during 1981; about 71 pet of this was 
imported, 146,100 mt of rutile and 37,500 mt of synthetic 
rutile. About 55 pet of rutile imports were from Australia, 
over 29 pet from the Republic of South Africa, and 16 pet 
from Sierra Leone. Synthetic rutile imports were mostly 
from Australia, 96 pet, vdth about 3 pet from Japan and 1 pet 
from India and other. 



PIGMENT PLANT PRODUCTION 

Pigment manufacture utilized about 91 pet of 1981 U.S. 
consumption of titanium concentrates (6). Pigment is 
produced from ilmenite or slag in sulfate process plants and 
from rutile (both natural and synthetic), slag, and occa- 
sionally high-grade ilmenite and leucoxene in chloride 
process plants. The product from pigment production ranges 
from about 87 to 100 pet Ti02. The decision as to which plant 



Table 4.— U.S. imports for consumption of titanium 
concentrates, by country, 198V (6) 

Concentrate and country Imports, mt 

llmenite: 

Australia 191,256 

Norway 1 ,502 

South Africa, Republic of 21 ,538 

Total 214,296 

Titanium slag: 

Canada 223,295 

South Africa, Republic of 20,580 

Other 3 

Total 243,878 

Rutile, natural: 

Australia 80,147 

Malaysia 10 

Sierra Leone 22,894 

South Africa, Republic of 43,007 

Other 23 

Total 146,079 

Rutile, synthetic: 

Australia 36,023 

India 399 

Japan 1,089 

Other 3 

Total 37,514 

'Adjusted by the Bureau of Mines. 

NOTE: — Data may not add to totals shown because of independent rounding. 



to build relates to the availability of either sulfuric acid or 
chlorine in addition to the availability of the raw material 
feed. If pollution is not a factor and sulfur is easily 
obtainable, the sulfate plant is often selected. Cost and 
availability of the titanium concentrate may also influence 
the plant process selection. Primarily because of environ- 
mental considerations (particularly sulfate emissions), no 
new sulfate plants have been built in the United States since 
the early 1970's; some plants have closed during this time. 

Table 5 shows that as of the late 1970's' there were four 
sulfate process pigment plants in the United States with a 
combined capacity of 249,700 mt/yr. Since that time, the NL 
Industries plant, with a capacity of 100,000 mt/yr, has 
closed; also, there have been various expansions of 
capacities and changes in ownership for other plants (see 
table 5 footnotes). The table also shows that there were nine 
domestic chloride process plants producing Ti02 pigment, 
vrith a combined capacity of 670,200 mt/yr. There were 39 
sulfate and 7 chloride plants in foreign countries. 

The United States had only 14 pet of the annual world 
capacity from sulfate pigment plants and 77 pet from 
chloride pigment plants. 

The Federal Republic of Germany and Japan are also 
significant sulfate pigment producers, and the United 
Kingdom is one of the few countries outside the United 
States with significant chloride pigment production. 



'^he reports used to develop the table are dated 1981 for the U.S. plants 
and 1978 for the foreign plants. 



Table 5.- 


Titanium pigment plant Input source and type and output capacity (6, 12) 








Raw material 


Pigment capacity, mt/yr 


Company and location of plant 


Source Type 


Sulfate 


Chloride 


MARKET ECONOMY COUNTRIES 



Imported 
. .do . . . . 



Rutile 

Slag, ilmenite 



Rutile . . 
Mixture 
..do... 
..do... 



NORTH AMERICA 
United States: 
American Cyanamid Co.:' 

Savannah, GA 

Do 

E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. Inc.: 

Antioch, CA do ... . 

DeLisle, Ml do . . . . 

Edge Moor, DE Domestic 

New Johnsonville, TN do 

Gulf & Western Natural Resources Group 
Chemicals Div. (formerly New Jersey Zinc 
Co.):^ 

Ashtabula, OH^ Imported Rutile and synthetic rutile 

Gloucester City, NJ^ do Slag 

Kerr-McGee Chemical Corp.: Hamilton, Ml" ... Mixed Synthetic rutile, rutile, and high-grade 

ilmenite 

NL Industries, Inc.: Sayreviile, NJ^ Domestic Ilmenite 

SCM Corp., Glidden Pigments Group, 
Chemical-Metallurgical : 

Ashtabula, OH Imported Rutile 

Baltimore, MD Mixed Ilmenite, slag 

Do Imported Rutile 

Total, United States 

Canada: 
Canadian Titanium Pigments, Ltd.: Varennes, 

Quebec. 
Tioxide of Canada Ltd.: Tracy, Quebec 



Domestic . 
..do 



Total, Canada 



Mexico: Pigmentos y Productos Quimicos S.A.: 
Tampico. 

SOUTH AMERICA 
Brazil: 
Titanio do Brasil S.A.: Camacari.^ 




49,900 


40,800 









31,800 
136,100 
100,500 
206,800 



39,900 


27,200 




100,000 


50,800 





59,900 




38,100 



38,100 


249,700 


670,200 


28,000 





30,000 





58,000 






See footnotes at end of table. 



10 



Table 5.— Titanium pigment plant input source and type and output capacity (6, ?2)— Continued 



Company and location of plant 



Raw material 



Type 



Pigment capacity, mt/yr 



MARKET ECONOMY COUNTRIES— Continued 



EUROPE 
Belgium: 

Bayer 3A: Anvers 

Kronos Titan (NL): Langerbrugge 

Total, Belgium 



Imported 
..do .... 



Finland: Vourikemia Oy: Pori Mixed Ilmenlte 

France: 
Thann et Mulhouse: 

Le Havre 

Thann 

Tloxide SA: Calais 

Total, France 



Imporled 
..do .... 
..do .... 



Ilmenite 
..do... 



Germany, Federal Republic of: 
Bayer SA: 

Uerdingen 

Unknown' 

Kronos Titan :^ 

Leverkusen 

Nordenham 

Unknown 

Pigment-Chemie GmbH: Homberg 

Total, Federal Republic of Germany 

Italy: Montedison S.p.A.: 

Scarlino' 

Spinetta-Marengo'" 



.do . ... 
Imported 



..do.. 
Rutile 



Ilmenite, slag 

Ilmenite 

Rutile 



.do Slag, ilmenite . 

,do do 



Total, Italy 

Netherlands: Tiofine: Rozenburg Imported 

Norway: Kronos Titan A/S: Fredrikstad Domestic 



Spain: 

Dow Unquinesa, Axpe-Bilbao: Erandio Mixed 

Titanio S.A.: Huelva do . 



Slag 



Total, Spain 



United Kingdom: 

Laporte Titanium:" 

Stallingborough 

Lines, Lincolnshire 

Tioxide: 

Billingham do — 

Greatham do 

Grimsby do 

Total, United Kingdom 

Yugoslavia: 
Cinkarna: Celje, Slovenia Republic Unknown 



Imported Synthetic rutile and rutile . 

. .do Slag, ilmenite 



..do... 
Rutile . . 
Ilmenite 



ASIA 
idia: Travancore Titanium Products: 

Trivandrum 

Kerala Minerals & Metals Ltd 



Domestic . 
..do 



Japan: 
Fuji Titanium Industry Co., Ltd: 

Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture 

Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture 

Furukawa Mining Co. Ltd.: Osaka 

Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha, Ltd.: 

Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture 

Unknown'^ 

Sakai Chemical Industry Co. Ltd.: Onahama. 

Tiekoku Kako Co. Ltd.: Okayama 

Titan Kogyo KK: Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture. 
Tohoku Chemical Co. Ltd.: Akita, Akita 

Prefecture. 



Imported 
..do .... 
..do .... 



Ilmenite 

Rutile and synthetic rutile 



..do 

Domestic Synthetic rutile . 



Total. Japan 



25,000 
40,000 






65,000 





80,000 





80,000 
20,000 
60,000 







160,000 





70,000 


70,000 

66,000 



50.000 



20,000 





36,000 




256,000 


56.000 


54,000 
43.000 







97.000 





35,000 
25,000 






27,000 
40,000 






67,000 






65,000 

27,000 



90,000 


40.000 




30.000 




182,000 


70.000 


20,000 





24,000 




28.000 


14,000 
8,000 
24,000 

90,000 

30.000 
27,000 
13.000 
12,000 







20,000 






208,000 


20,000 



See footnotes at end of table. 



11 



Table 5.— Titanium pigment plant input source and type and output capacity {6, 72>— Continued 



Company and location of plant 



Raw material 



Type 



Pigment capacity, mtyr 



MARKET ECONOMY COUNTRIES— Continued 



ASIA— Continued 
Korea, Republic of: Hankook Titanium Ind. Co. 
Ltd.: Seoul. 



Taiwan: China Metal Chemical: Taipei 
AFRICA 



Imported 
..do .... 



South Africa, Republic of: South African Titan 
Products: Umboglntwinl. 

OCEANIA 
Australia: 

Laporte Titanium:^ Bunbury 

Australian Titan Products: Burnle 



do 



Domestic 
..do .... 



Ilmenite 
..do.... 



Total, Australia 



30,000 
27,000 



CENTRALLY PLANNED ECONOMY COUNTRIES 



Czechoslovakia: 

Prerovske Chemlcke Zadovy Prerov Unknown Unknown 

Spotek: Ostrava Imported Ilmenite . 

Total, Czechoslovakia 



Poland: Z.P.N. : Police 
U.S.S.R.: State-owned 
Grand t( 



do 



.do. 



30,000 
12,000 






42,000 





30,000 
Unknown 




Unknown 



^Recently added a combined 9,100-mt/yr capacity to its plants. 

^Purchased by SCM Corp. In 1 983. Chloride capacity now rated at nearly 32,000 mt/yr, with plans to expand to 38,000 mt/yr. 

^Shutdown In 1983. 

"Plans are to expand the chloride plant capacity to 58,000 mt/yr in 1984, then to 65,000 mt/yr In 1986. 

^As of the study date, January 1981, this was a producing operation. It has since shut down (in September 1982). 

^As of study date, capacity reported to be 50,000 mt/yr. 

'As of study date, reported to be shut down. 

^Plans are to more than double the chloride plant capacity and reduce the sulfate plant capacity. 

^As of study date, this plant was owned by Tioxide. 

'•This plant is presently closed. 

"Laporte sold its TIO2 interests to SCM Corp. In September 1984, and plans are to increase capacity to 105,000 mt/yr. 

'^Plans are to expand to 36,000 mt/yr. 



STOCKPILES AND RECYCLING 

Rutile is the only titanium mineral concentrate held in 
the National Defense Stockpile. As of January 1983, the 
quantity of rutile in the stoclq)ile amounted to 35,000 mt, 37 
pet of the stockpile goal established in 1980 (3). The sponge 
metal form of titanium is also stockpiled. The amount in the 
stockpile as of January 1983 was 29,000 mt, or only 17 pet of 
the stated goal. Although some limited recycling of titanium 
metal occurs, there is none at the concentrate or pigment 
stages. 



BYPRODUCTS 

Titanium deposits often contain other minerals, which 
may be recovered with the titanium and improve the 
economics of the operation. These minerals include zircon, 
monazite, garnet, sillimanite, and kyanite. 

From an economic standpoint, zircon is typically the 
most important nontitaniimi byproduct. It is widely used in 
refractories, pigment glazes, foundiy sand, and alloys. It is 
also used in explosives, lamp filaments, special magnets, and 
miscellaneous specialty items. The availability of zircon 
concentrates from the titanium mines and deposits in this 
study is discussed in a later section, "AvailabiUty of 
Byproduct Zircon." 



The mineral monazite is recovered for its thorium and 
rare-earth content. Monazite is a cerium phosphate, but 
thorium is often substituted for cerium along with lanth- 
anum and other rare earths. It is separated with the zircon 
in the beneficiation processes. Monazite is widely used as a 
source of color-producing elements on television tubes. 

Garnet is sometimes recovered, depending on the 
market. It is used exclusively as an abrasive. The market for 
garnet is not widespread since it is cheaply available 
throughout the world. 

Sillimanite and kyanite are aluminum silicates that are 
interchangeable for most uses. The predominant use is as a 
ceramic refractory ingredient. Because they are abundant 
and other minerals can be used in their place, in some 
operations they are rejected in tailings. 

Pig iron is produced in titanium slag operations. It is an 
integral part of these operations and an important source of 
revenue. For this study, all operations that produced a 
titanium slag product also sold a pig iron byproduct. 

Titanium minerals are themselves potential byproducts 
of porphyry copper operations, kyanite mines, massive 
sulfide ores, silica sand pits, some types of bauxites, and 
numerous other operations. Titanium minerals currently are 
produced as byproducts of placer tin mining in Southeast 
Asia. 



12 



MINING AND BENEFICIATION METHODS 



MINING 

Titanium ore can be mined by both surface and 
underground methods, although surface mining, principally 
for sand deposits, is most commonly used. Of the 63 deposits 
in this study, all but 2 used or were proposed to use 1 of 3 
surface mining methods: dredging, strip level, or open pit. 

Dredging is the typical surface mining method for 
placer beach sand deposits. This method is used for deposits 
in Australia (east coast), Sierra Leone, the Republic of 
South Africa, and the United States. Types of dredges most 
often used are cutterhead suction dredges and, in some 
cases, bucket-ladder dredges. Floating on water, dredges 
advance forward through the ore. If the dredged ore is soft 
and at depths of 20 m or less, the suction-cutter type is used. 
This dredge is often equipped with hydraulic jets to loosen 
and agitate the sand banks prior to drawing the ore toward 
the suction pipeline. The suction pipeline moves a slurry of 
sand, organic matter, and other waste to oversize screens 
and detrashing trommels. After organic matter and oversize 
(greater than 5 mm) and other waste is removed, the ore is 
deslimed if necessary, using hydrocyclones and/or hydrosiz- 
ing. Preliminary concentration may take place on the dredge 
or on barges alongside, using gravity separation devices. A 
typical "wet mill" with gravity circuits may have gravity 
separation devices carrying out rougher, cleaner, and 
recleaner duties, with banks of spirals upgrading recleaner 
concentrate. High-grade deposit operations may employ 
scavenging gravity concentrators to recover more of the 
middlings. The tailings are stacked behind the dredge. 

Factors such as ore body location (usually several 
kilometers inland), size and shape, and lithology, or lack of 
an adequate water supply may make the use of dredges for 
some placer deposits impractical. In those instances, other 
surface mining methods, including draglines and/or front- 
end loaders (FEL's) and trucks, are used. Ore is either 
stockpiled for blending or placed in a slurrying sump before 
going to rough concentration. These methods are typical of 
mines in Western Australia and Sri Lanka. 

Open pit or underground methods are used on all 
hard-rock titanium deposits. Finland's Otanmaki Mine, 
using a sublevel stoping method, is the only underground 
mine producing titanium in this study. The Piney River, 
VA, deposit was proposed to combine an open pit using 
FEL's and trucks, and underground sublevel caving using 
load-haul-dump to recover the remaining ore tonnage. Open 
pit methods that require little or no blasting and use FEL's 
and trucks for ore and waste haulage are proposed for 
-deposits in Brazil and the United States. Hard-rock deposits 
in Canada, Italy, Norway, and the United States will 
require extensive blasting. Diesel or electric shovels and 
trucks or FEL's and tmcks are proposed for ore and waste 
haulage. 

The only exception to the above mine descriptions are 
the Indian coastal beach sand deposits, where natural 
concentrate beach sand is skimmed by hand using shovels 
and buckets, baskets, or handcarts to transport the ore to 
stockpiles. The ore is then taken by conveyor, hand-pushed 
mine car, or canoe directly to a "dry mill." 



BENEFICIATION 

Titanium ores mined from placer beach sand deposits 
are processed through preliminary concentration in "wet 



mills," with final concentration taking place in "dry mills" 
(figs. 8-9). In wet mills, ore is separated, using wet-gravity 
methods, into a heavy-mineral fraction containing the 
titanium raw materials and a lighter mineral fraction (tails). 
Ore from a dredge or slurry sump is pumped at 25 to 30 pet 



Bulk wet heavy-mineral 
concentrate (from wet mill) 



Note: If concentrate 
has magnetite,' 
take it out wet 
before dry mill 



Dryer (may be 

operated at 

temperature high 

enough to burn 

off organics) 



Bucket elevator 



Multicompartment 
bins 



High-tension 
electrical separators 

Several stages of 

roughers, scavengers, 

and cleaners 



Nonconductors- 
zircon, residual 
silica, traces 
of ilmenite 
and rutile 



Conductors 



Repulp in 
water 



Dry induced-roll, 

high-intensity 

magnetic separators 

Several stages 
of roughers 
and cleaners 



4 stages 

of spiral 

concentration 



Silica sand- 
fine and often 
high quality 



Ilmenite 
concentrate 
(magnetic) 



Nonmagnetic 
rutile and 
monazite 



Dryer 



Secondary 

polishing with 

high-tension 

electrical 

separators 



Final 
zircon 



Very 

high-intensity 

crossbelt 

magnetic 

separator 



Rutile 



~1 

Monazite 



Conductors \- 



Figure 8.— Generalized flowsheet of a mineral sand wet mill. 



13 



Trash— mostly 
roots and 
vegetation 

Excess water 
and -^ — 
organic slime 



Slurry line 
from dredge 

1 , 

Trash screen[ 



Plate 
thickener or 
overflowing 

sump 



Transfer 
pump 



Rougher 

spiral feed 

sump 



Wash water 



Wash 
water 



Rougher 
spirals 



Rougher 
tailings 



"3 



Rougher 
middling 



Rougher 
concentrate 



Scavenger 

spirals 
(optional) 

J. 



Scavenger 
concentrate 



Final tailings— return 
to dredge pond 



Cleaner 
feed sump 
and pump 



Wash 
water 7^ 



Cleaner 
spirals 



L J 



Cleaner 
tailings 



Wash, 
water 



Cleaner 
concentrate 



Gravity-feed 

recleaner 

spirals 

I 



Recleaner 
tailings 



Final 
concentrate 



Screw 

or rake 

dewatering 

devil 

To dry mill 
Figure 9.— Generalized flowsheet of a mineral sand dry mill. 



solids to the wet mill where it is fed into one or more stages 
of gravity concentrators, producing a preliminary heavy- 
mineral concentrate. Wet mills can be land based or floating, 
depending on the condition required at the deposit. Rough, 
heavy-mineral concentrate from the wet mill is transported, 
usually by truck or barge, to the dry mill for further 
separation and concentration. The specific flowsheet of a dry 
mill depends considerably on the type of ore and heavy- 
mineral assemblage to be recovered. Dry mills use various 
stages of high-tension electrical separation, induced-roll 
magnetic separation, and additional gravity separation 
methods to produce specific titanium raw material (ilmenite. 



rutile) and other heavy-mineral concentrates (zircon, mona- 
zite). A general flowsheet would consist primarily of 
high-tension electrical separators to separate conductors 
(ilmenite, rutile, monazite) from nonconductors (zircon). The 
conductors are further separated using both dry, induced- 
roll, high-intensity magnetic separators and very high- 
intensity crossbelt magnetic separators, into the ilmenite, 
rutile, and monazite concentrates. The nonconductors use 
various stages of spiral concentration and high-tension 
electrical separators to separate the zircon concentrate from 
the residual silica sand. Variations to typical wet and dry 
mill procedures are used throughout the world based on the 
composition and type of mineral sand. 

Three nonproducing hard-rock deposits — one each in 
Brazil, Canada, and the United States — have proposed 
operations that would use gravity and/or magnetic and 
high-intensity electrical separation methods to recover 
titanium concentrate. Operations such as the Maclntyre 
Development in New York, the Tellnes ilmenite mine in 
Norway, the Otanmaki Mine in Finland, and the Piampaludo 
deposit in Italy use or would use flotation methods to 
recover titanium raw materials. At Tellnes, the coarser part 
of the ilmenite is being recovered by gravity separation. Ore 
is processed through various stages of crushing, grinding, 
and wet or dry magnetic separation, to remove any tramp 
iron, magnetite, and garnet; it is then deslimed, thickened, 
scrubbed, and conditioned prior to flotation. Most operations 
have one or two flotation circuits; large operations use more 
circuits to remove various minerals such as pyrite, 
pyroxene, and remaining garnet, and apatite. Operations 
such as Tellnes and a proposed Brazilian operation (Catalao) 
leach the flotation concentrate to remove apatite. In other 
operations, the flotation concentrate is processed through 
high-intensity magnetic separators to separate the titanium 
raw materials of ilmenite-anatase or ilmenite-rutile. 

All the recovered titanium concentrates from either wet 
or dry mill or flotation processes are for pigment production 
using either the chloride process or the sulfate process. In 
addition, ilmenite can be used in the production of titanium 
slag or synthetic rutile. 



UPGRADED ILMENITE-SYNTHETIC RUTILE 

The abundance of ilmenite and scarcity of rutile has led 
to the research and development of processes for upgrading 
ilmenite to a low-iron, high-titanium (90 to 97 pet Ti02) 
product called synthetic rutile. Most upgrading processes 
fall into four major groups: direct oxidation often followed 
by reduction and acid leaching, a pyrometallurgical method, 
a carbonyl process, and direct acid leaching methods. 

A commonly used ilmenite upgrading process is direct 
oxidation-reduction followed by "rusting" and acid leaching. 
This is often referred to as the "Western Titanium"" process. 
The Australian and Indian synthetic rutile is produced in 
this manner. After the oxidation of ilmenite, the iron oxide 
content is reduced to metallic iron in a rotary kiln with the 
addition of coal. The metallic iron is removed by agitating 
the reduced ilmenite in aerated water (which is slightly 
acidic) so that the iron oxide "rusts away" from the ilmenite. 
The precipitated iron oxide is then separated from the 
upgraded ilmenite, and the final product is leached in acid 
{13). A 93-pct-Ti02 product is produced by this process. 

Another significant synthetic rutile process is that 
practiced by Kerr-McGee Chemical Corp. at its Mobile, AL, 



'Developed by Western Titanium Ltd., Western Australia. 



14 



facility. The Kerr-McGee process is a modification of the 
benelite cyclic process. The basic steps include a reduction 
roast of the ilmenite ore followed by a hydrochloric acid 
pressure leach. In this process, a 95-pct-Ti02 product is 
produced (U). 

The Bureau has researched three different upgrading 
methods — a pyrometallurgical process, a carbonyl process, 
and a direct acid leaching process. In the pyrometallurgical 
process, low-iron, high-titanium ilmenite concentrate is 
blended with coke and lime, then smelted in electric arc 
furnaces, producing a salable pig iron and a titanium slag. 
The slag is treated with oxygen and titanium pyrophos- 
phate, which converts titanium oxides to crystalline rutile 
and produces a phosphate glass containing most of the 
impurities. Following this step, the rutilized slag is leached 



with dilute sulfuric acid and filtered to extract the synthetic 
rutile product containing approximately 92 pet TiOg (15). 

In the carbonyl process, an ilmenite concentrate is first 
reduced, converting iron oxides to metallic iron, then 
treated with carbon monoxide at high temperatures and 
high pressures. This converts the metallic iron to iron 
pentacarbonyl, which appears as liquid or vapor and is 
removed by gravity flow and vapor transport. The synthetic 
rutile product, having a rutile crystal structure, is suitable 
for chlorination (16). 

In 1970, the Bureau of Mines investigated the use of 
direct acid leaching methods to convert ilmenite to rutile 
substitutes. The best results appear to be processes that 
employ hydrochloric and sulfuric acids (17). 



GEOLOGY AND RESOURCES 



Estimates of demonstrated titanium resources through- 
out the world in the deposits studied are 438 million mt of 
contained Ti02 (table 6, fig. 10). Although Austraha has the 
largest share of demonstrated ore resources (42 pet of the 
world total), these low-grade beach-sand-type deposits 
account for only a small share (11 pet) of the total contained 
Ti02 in the demonstrated resources. Nevertheless, Austra- 
lia's mines and deposits account for a large share of current 
world production of titanium concentrates (at 37 pet for 
ilmenite and 64 pet for rutile). 

Regionally, titanium resources are widespread, with 
North America and Europe accounting for over 50 pet of the 



contained Ti02 in the deposits included in this study. Table 6 
also shows the large potential of anatase resources located in 
Brazil. 

From the 63 deposits studied, additional resources of at 
least 314 million mt of contained Ti02 are estimated to exist 
at the inferred level. The majority of this is located in 
Australia and New Zealand (41 pet), Brazil (18 pet), India 
(14 pet), and the Republic of South Africa (13 pet). The 
remainder is found in the United States, Canada, Finland, 
Italy, and Sierra Leone. These inferred resources repre- 
sent an increase of over 70 pet from the demonstrated 
amount. 



Table 6.— Summary of identified titanium resources^ in market economy countries, January 1984 



Ore-sand, 10^ mt 



Contained TiOs, 10* mt 



Demonstrated Inferred Demonstrated Inferred^ 



Av Ti02 
grade,^ 
wt pet 



Source," pet 



NORTH AMERICA 
United States: 

Rutile 

Ilmenite 

Leucoxene 

Canada: Ilmenite 

Total or average, North Ameriea 

SOUTH AMERICA 
Brazil: 

Anatase 

Rutile 

Ilmenite 

Total or average. South America 

EUROPE 

Finland: Ilmenite 

Italy: 

Rutile 

Ilmenite 

Nonway: Ilmenite 

Total or average, Europe 

ASIA 
India: 

Rutile 

Ilmenite 

Leucoxene 

Sri Lanka: 

Rutile 

Ilmenite 

Total or average, Asia 

See footnotes at end of table. 



,726 
238 



223 
114 



473 
497 



400 




1.0 
72.5 



0.24 


12 


2.32 


58 


.15 





30.50 


100 



1.17 
5.69 



42 

100 





1,963 


337 


114.8 


17.7 


5.85 


83 


t7 


526 


670 


75.5 

.1 

17.8 


37.0 

.5 

19.4 


19.68 

.11 

12.58 


100 

91 




100 

9 


526 


670 


93.4 


56.9 


17.75 


98 


2 



20.7 


17.5 


4.37 


100 





8.5 


7.2 


1.79 


100 





89.4 





18.00 


100 






4.3 


2.4 


0.88 





100 


30.2 


41.6 


6.20 





100 


.6 





.27 





100 



100 
100 



15 



Table 6.— Summary of identified titanium resources^ in market economy countries, January 1984 — Continued 

Ore-sand, 10^ mt Contained TiOs, 10^ mt Av TiOz Source," pet 

grade,^ 

Demonstrated Inferred Demonstrated Inferred^ vvt pet ^^'^ fock Placer 

AFRICA 

Sierra Leone: Rutlle 129 17 2.1 0.3 1.61 100 

South Africa, Republic of: 

Rutile 1 / 2.3 5.1 .33 100 

llmenite | 685 1,538 ll5.6 35.1 2.28 100 

Total or average, Africa 814 1,555 20.0 40.5 2.46 100 

OCEANIA 

Australia (east coast): 

Rutile j J 7.2 4.7 0.24 100 

llmenite / 3,007 1,461 112.0 4.4 .40 100 

Australia (west coast): 

Rutile 1 ( 2.8 2.8 .56 100 

llmenite 546 813 22.7 70.9 4.16 18 82 

Leucoxene J i 1 .9 1 .8 .37 100 

New Zealand: 

Rutile 

llmenite 

Total or average, Oceania 

Grand tot al or average 8,462 6,634 437.9 314.4 5^17 71 29 

'Representing only those mines and deposits included in this study. 

^Inferred contained TIO2 tonnage is not necessarily based on the listed demonstrated grade and therefore cannot be calculated from the average Ti02 grade. 
^Represents demonstrated level resource grade. The total average T1O2 grade for each region is a weighted average of all titanium minerals from that region. 
"Based on the contained demonstrated level tonnage. 



73 


924 


13:4 


.9 
42.5 


.09 
4.60 






100 
100 


3,626 


3,198 


50.1 


128.0 


1.38 


8 


92 




Figure 10.— World titanium resources, by region and type. 
(Total = 438 million mt of contained TiOj.) Numbers within pies 
refer to percent of total resources. 



In 1973, the U.S. Geological Survey reported that 
nearly 2 billion mt of contained titanium existed in the world 
at the identified resource level (demonstrated plus inferred), 
with approximately 1& pet in the United States, and there 
may be an additional 1.5 billion mt of contained titanium in 
hypothetical resources in the world (18). Both of these 
values have recently been updated by the Geological 
Survey's titanium specialist and are discussed in appendix A 
(2). 

The economic titanium minerals ilmenite, rutile, and 
anatase, and the possibly economic mineral perovskite, 
occur in a variety of different deposit types. These include 
several types in hard rocks (igneous gabbro-anorthosite 
assemblages, alkalic igneous rocks, unusual metamorphic 
rocks), weathered and hydro thermally altered rocks, and 
placer deposits. 



Gabbro-anorthosite assemblages, typically of Precam- 
brian age, commonly contain ilmenite (locally with rutile) 
disseminated and/or as massive segregations. Intergrowths 
with magnetite are a major problem. Major deposits are in 
Norway, Canada, and the United States. 

Alkalic igneous rocks (of any age) may contain rutile, 
anatase, or perovskite, all commonly with chemical impuri- 
ties. Alteration by weathering may produce a more 
attractive ore, as in Brazil. 

Metamorphic rocks of eclogite facies contain rutile and 
are important resources in Italy and the U.S.S.R. Alumi- 
nous metamorphic rocks and hydrothermally altered rocks 
contain large low-grade resources of rutile. 

The rock-hosted deposit types in the United States 
have collectively been estimated to contain 67 million mt 
Ti02 by the Geological Survey and Bureau titanium 
speciaUsts (2). (Their estimates include low-grade resources 
and a larger number of deposits than this study.) 

Placer deposits of titanium minerals include shoreline- 
complex sands of modern and former shorelines and fluvial 
placers. Shoreline-complex sands, which contain the more 
important resources, include beach deposits, aeolian (dune) 
deposits, and other related sand deposits. Any titanium 
mineral resistant to abrasion and weathering, such as rutile 
and ilmenite (or formed by weathering such as altered 
ilmenite), may be concentrated along with other resistant 
heavy minerals such as zircon and monazite, in the manner 
commonly observed on many beaches. These deposits may 
be of any age, but most resources are present in Tertiary to 
modern deposits with relict depositional topography. Impor- 
tant deposits are in Australia, South Africa, and the United 
States. Placer deposits in the United States have been 
estimated {2) to contain 49 million mt of Ti02. 



16 



TITANIUM DEPOSIT COSTS 



COSTING METHODOLOGY 

For each property included in this study, a cost 
evaluation was made for both capital and operating costs, to 
reflect, as nearly as possible, actual operations, or in the 
case of nonproducing sites, expected operational technolo- 
gies and capacities. Costs for the deposits in the United 
States were developed by Bureau Field Operations Centers 
in Pittsburgh, PA, and Denver, CO, based on actual 
reported company data, scaling from similar known opera- 
tions, or using the cost estimating system (CES) (19). Costs 
from all foreign deposits were collected and developed by 
Kaiser Engineers, Inc., under a contract with the Bureau. 
Some of the foreign deposit costs are actual company-reported 
data; others were estimated by Kaiser Engineers, 
using the contractor's knowledge of the operation or deposit 
plus experience in the industry. The costs for Australia were 
modeled by the contractor based on actual Australian 
heavy-mineral operation's costs. 

All costs presented in this report are in terms of 
January 1984 U.S. dollars. The cost estimates should be 
accurate to vdthin ±25 pet, which reflects standard industry 
prefeasibility estimates. 

Capital expenditures were calculated for exploration, 
acquisition, development, mine plant and equipment, 
construction of the mill plant, and installation of the mill 
equipment. Capital expenditures for mining and processing 
facilities include the costs of mobile and stationary 
equipment, engineering design, facilities and utilities, and 
working capital. Facilities and utilities (infrastructure) 
include the cost of access and haulage facilities, water 
facilities, power supply, and personnel accommodations. 
Working capital is a revolving cash fund required for such 
operating expenses as labor, supplies, taxes, and insurance. 

Mine and mill operating costs are a combination of 
direct and indirect costs. Direct operating costs include 
materials, utilities, direct and maintenance labor, and 
payroll overhead. Indirect operating costs include technical 
and clerical labor, administrative costs, facilities mainte- 
nance and supplies, and research. Other costs in the analysis 
are fixed charges that include local taxes and insurance. 

When applicable, the mill operating cost includes the 
cost of both the wet and dry mill. In addition, synthetic 
rutile plant or titanium slag smelter operating and capital 
costs are included where applicable. 



OPERATING COSTS 

Table 7 lists the average operating costs for selected 
titanium operations (expressed as dollars per metric ton of 
titanium concentrate). The costs for titanium operations in 
other countries are not represented on the table because of 
the Hmited numbers of deposits in those countries, to 
protect confidentiality. For primary rutile operations, the 
mine operating cost primarily represents the cost of 
dredging and the wet mill (particularly for Australia). For 
the producers in Australia, this cost is nearly $200/mt, while 
in India and Sri Lanka it is only one-quarter of that. The 
mine costs in India and Sri Lanka are considerably less than 
in Australia because mining is very labor intensive (in India, 
mining is done by hand-shoveling). The mine cost increases 
to nearly $300/mt for the nonproducers (in Australia), 
primarily ovdng to the lower ore grades. The mill costs for 



Table 7.— Estimated average operating costs for selected 
titanium mines and deposits^ 

(January 1984 U.S. dollars per metric ton of product 
on a weight-average basis) 

Transportation 
Mine Mill Other^ to plant or Total 
market^ 
Primary rutile (natural): 
Australia: 

Producers $195 $100 $49 $6 $350 

Nonproducers 286 125 168 24 603 

India and Sri Lanka: 

Producers 48 91 1 73 18 330 

Primary ilmenite: 
Australia: 

Producers 12 9 4 2 27 

Nonproducers 41 19 21 17 98 

United States, Finland, and 

Norway: Producers 10 18 4 4 36 

NAp Not applicable. 

'The costs are expressed in terms of dollars per metric ton of titanium 
concentrate, whichever is appropriate (i.e., the costs for primary rutile mines in 
Australia would be in terms of dollars per metric ton of rutile concentrate). 

^Includes all property. State, Federal, and severance taxes, plus any royalty. 
Nonproducers would require higher income in order to provide the stipulated 
1 5-pct DCFROR, thus aggregate tax payments are generally higher than for 
producing operations. 

^Cost represents the transportation cost to pigment plant or local port or 
market. 



the primary rutile operations represent primarily the dry 
mill. For producers, this cost averages $90/mt to $100/mt in 
both Australia and India and Sri Lanka, and only increases 
to $125/mt for the nonproducers (in Australia). The costs 
labeled "other" include all property. State, Federal, and 
severance taxes, plus royalties, if any. Taxes are generally 
greater for nonproducers in this study, because, in most 
cases, the revenues required to cover the higher overall 
costs (including profit) are greater. In other words, 
nonproducers would require a higher taxable income 
(leading to higher tax payments) in order to cover all 
operating costs and provide for a 15-pct DCFROR on all 
investments. The high cost Hsted under "other" for the 
Indian and Sri Lankan rutile producers is due to the high 
Federal corporate income tax rate in those countries. The 
total operating costs shown on table 7 for primary rutile 
producers range from a low of $330/mt in India and Sri 
Lanka to a high of $350/mt for mines in Australia. These 
compare closely vdth the average market price of rutile in 
1984 of $350/mt. The Australian nonproducing rutile 
deposits have an average total cost of just over $600/mt, 
considerably higher than the 1984 market price. 

The mine cost for primary ilmenite mines (producers) 
averages $ll/mt in Austraha, the United States, Finland, 
and Norway, and increases to about $40/mt for the 
nonproducers in Australia (where the ore grade is lower). 
The mill cost for the producers in the United States, 
Finland, and Norway is twice that of Australia ($18/mt 
versus $9/mt). This represents the higher cost of processing 
hard-rock ore as opposed to the ore from beach sand 
deposits. The total operating cost for primary ilmenite 
producers in Austraha is nearly $10/mt less than for the 
producers in the United States, Finland, and Norway. This 
compares well with the $10/mt differential in market prices 
for ilmenite in Australia (at $32/mt) versus the United 
States (at $42/mt). The total operating cost for the primary 
ilmenite nonproducers (in Australia) is almost four times 



17 



that of the producers, owing primarily to the lower grades at 
the nonproducing deposits. 

A representative synthetic rutile operating cost is just 
over $280/mt product, on the average, for both Australian 
and Indian plants. Since nearly 2 mt of ilmenite concentrate, 
at approximately $30/mt to $40/mt of product (depending on 
market location), is necessary to produce 1 mt of synthetic 
rutile, the cost to produce synthetic rutile is comparable to 
that of producing natural rutile ($70 + $280 = $350/mt). 
The 1984 market prices for rutile and synthetic rutile are 
$350/mt and $340/mt, respectively. 



CAPITAL COSTS 

Table 8 shows average capital costs estimated for this 
study to develop nonproducing surface deposits in Australia, 
in terms of U.S. dollars. Only Australia was used because no 
other regions of the world have enough nonproducing 
deposits to be included separately without compromising the 
confidentiality of individual deposit data. Costs represent 
acquisition, exploration, development, and equipping a new 
mine site, along with construction of any mine and mill 
plants and buildings necessary (wet and dry mills). Mine 
costs, mainly for the dredge and floating wet mill, are 
greater than the mill costs, which mainly represent the dry 
mill. 

Table 8.— Estimated capital costs to develop nonproducing 
surface titanium deposits in Australia 

(Thousand January 1984 U.S. dollars) 



Capacity, 10= mt/yr ore feed 


3,400 


15,800 


Exploration, acquisition, and development 

Mine 


$4,300 
8,600 
6,300 

19,200 


$7,700 
22 600 


Mill 


16,100 


Total 


46,400 



TYPICAL BEACH SAND MINING 
COSTS— AUSTRALIAN DEPOSITS 

Nearly two-thirds of the mines and deposits included in 
this study produce or are proposed to produce beach-sand- 
type ores. In most of these operations, standard beach sand 
mining technologies are applied, which typically include 
dredging or dry surface mining plus wet and dry milling. 
Australia is by far the leader in the field of beach sand 
mining; therefore, costs for its operations are representative 
of typical beach sand production costs, when financial 
differences from one region of the world to another are not 
taken into account. 

The costs presented in this section were estimated 
based on known Australian operations. Costs were original- 
ly estimated in 1981 Australian dollars, updated to 1984 
Australian dollars, then converted to 1984 U.S. dollars using 
the appropriate exchange rate. In most cases, the costs 
were estimated for 500-, 1,000-, 1,500-, and 2,000-mt/h 
dredges and wet mills, and 15-, 30-, 45-, and 60-mt/h dry 
mills. In nearly all cases, these operations were assumed to 
run three shifts per day, 300 d/yr (or 7,200 h/yr). 

Figures 11 and 12 show capital costs for the dredge, wet 
mill, and dry mill. The dredge cost represents the cost to 
buy and construct the dredge including the floatline. This 
capital cost ranges from just over $500,000 for dredges with 
a 500-mt/h capacity up to $2.6 million for dredges with a 





1 1 1 
Annual cost is based on 7,200 h/yr 




2.5 


y 


^ 


2.0 


Dredge/ 




1.5 


/ 


- 


1.0 


L 1 1 1 





20 



18 



500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 

CAPACITY mt/h 
Figure 11.— Capital costs for a dredge, Australia. 

WET CONCENTRATOR CAPACITY, mt/h 
500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 



16 - 



^ 12 



10 - 



T I r n 

Annual cost is based 
on 7,200 h/yr 




Dry mill 
concentrator 



10 



20 



30 



40 



50 60 



DRY MILL CAPACITY, mt/h 
Figure 12.— Capital costs for wet and dry mill concentrators, 



18 



2,500-mt/h capacity. The data indicate a slight economy of 
scale for the higher capacity dredges. The costs for the 
floating wet mill represent the costs to construct and equip 
the floating wet concentrator, typically with cones. The 
capital costs range from $6.2 million for a 500-mt/h mill to 
just over $18 million for a 2,000-mt/h mill. A slight economy 
of scale seems to occur for the higher capacity mills. Costs 
for the dry mill, in addition to the magnetite and 
electrostatic circuits, include costs to equip and construct 
the feed preparation section, service buildings, and product 
bins (for truck loading) or feed conveyors (for rail loading). 
The costs range from just over $4 million for a 15-mt/h mill 
to $13.5 million for a 60-mt/h mill. 

Figure 13 shows the annual operating costs for dry 
mining (contractor operated). These curves depict the costs 
for three operations: bulldozer and sluicing, scraper with 
dozer (for hauls of 0.75 km or less), or front-end loader 
(FEL) and truck haulage (for hauls up to 2.5 km). Bucket 
wheel excavators and a conveyor (for large amounts of 
tonnage and long hauls) would be a fourth option, but there 
were insufficient data points to construct a curve. Bulldozer- 
sluicing costs range from approximately $750,000/yr for a 
600-mt/h operation to nearly $2 million per year for an 
1,800-mt/h operation. Scraper-dozer costs range from $1.8 
million per year for a 600-mt/h operation to $4.7 million per 
year for an 1,800-mt/h operation. Costs for FEL-truck 
operations range from over $3 million per year for a 
600-mt/h operation to nearly $6.7 million per year for the 
1,800-mt/h operation. The curves exhibit some economy of 
scale, especially at the higher capacities. 

Figure 14 shows curves depicting the annual cost of 
operating a dredge (for wet mining), a floating wet mill, and 
a dry mill. A cable dredge was assumed more effective at 
lower capacities and a walking (pontoon) dredge at higher 
capacities. Costs for the dredge range from just over 
$400,000/yr for a 500-mt/h operation to over $1.3 million per 
year for a 2,000-mt/h operation. Labor costs account for 
approximately 17 pet of the total annual dredging cost; fuel 
and electricity (with electricity being the far greater cost) 
account for almost 35 pet; and parts plus maintenance labor 



CO 

O 

O 2 




300 600 900 1,200 1,500 1,800 2,100 

CAPACITY, mt/h 

Figure 13.— Annual operating costs for dry mining opera- 
tions, Australia. 



4.0 



3.5 



3.0 



DREDGE AND CONCENTRATOR CAPACITY, mt/h 
500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 



<a 




CO 


? F> 


3 




•* 




CO 




0) 




■*" 


2.0 


o 








K 




'A 


1.5 


o 





1.0- 



.5- 



\ I f 

Annual cost is based 
on 7,200 h/yr 




Walking 

(pontoon) 

dredge 



10 20 30 40 50 

DRY MILL CAPACITY, mt/h 



60 



Figure 14.— Annual operating costs for dredge and wet and 
dry mill concentrators, Australia. 



account for 48 pet. Floating wet mill costs range from nearly 
$2.4 million per year for a 500-mt/h operation to over $3.5 
million per year for a 2,000-mt/h operation. Labor costs 
account for 54 pet, electricity for 15 pet, and parts, 
maintenance labor, and water supply for the remaining 31 
pet of the total annual wet mill costs. Dry mill costs range 
from over $1.5 million per year for a 15-mt/h operation to 
approximately $2.8 million per year for a 60-mt/h operation. 
Labor costs at the dry mill also account for 54 pet of the total 
annual operating costs; electricity and fuel account for 28 
pet; and the remaining 18 pet is for parts and maintenance 
labor. The only curve that exhibits any significant economy 
of scale is that of the floating wet mill, at its higher 
capacities. 

Labor costs for all of the curves are based on an annual 
average wage scale in Australia (U.S. dollars) of approx- 
imately $23,000/yr per person (including 50 pet overhead). 
This cost is based on Queensland Award Rates for mineral 
sands mining operations. For operations in other States, a 
factor was applied to convert this rate. The total number of 
people employed to operate the equipment ranged from 4 to 
8 persons per year on the dredge, 60 to 80 persons in the wet 
mill, and 45 to 55 persons in the dry mill. The ranges reflect 
the various sizes of the operations. 

Power costs range from 2.7(Z/kW«h to 3.6(Z/kW'h in 
Queensland (in U.S. dollars), and these rates are also 
applicable to the other States of Australia where mineral 
sand operations exist. With the exception of the dry mill, 
fuel costs are nonexistent or very small. Fuel costs at the 
dry mill are based on just over 30 UScL. 





Annual cost 




' 'key 1 




is based on 




A Production overlieads 


8 


7.200 h/yr 

\\ 




e Services 
C Rehabilitation 
D Water services 
E Clearing and 




■ \\ 


s, 


preparation 
F Road maintenance 
G Housing and amenities 


6 




\ 


H Surveys-mine planning 
/ Storekeeping 
W Laboratory operations 


5 


\^ 


\ 


\^/\ 


4 


\ 




Vfi \ 






v^\ ^^ 


3 


- "^^o.^V° 


\ 


\\ ^ 


2 


^v^ 


^' 


XV- 




< 




--^3=; 


1 


T""^ 


^ 


^ AVN. /'. 








1 1 1 



500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 

CAPACITY, mt/h 

Figure 15.— General costs associated with beach sand mining 
operations, Australia. 



19 



The last set of curves (fig. 15) identifies all of the 
general costs not directly associated with the mining and 
milling operation in particular. Curves are represented for 
clearing and preparation, rehabilitation, services, water 
services, road maintenance, housing and amenities, produc- 
tion overheads, storekeeping, surveys and mine planning, 
and laboratory costs. The costs on these curves are 
presented in terms of cents per metric ton ore. 



TITANIUM CONCENTRATE AVAILABILITY 



ECONOMIC EVALUATION METHODOLOGY 

Once all of the cost and engineering data are 
established, production parameters and cost estimates for 
each mine and deposit are entered into the supply analysis 
model (SAM). The Bureau has developed the SAM to 
perform discounted-cash-flow rate of return (DCFROR) 
analyses to determine the long-run constant dollar price at 
which the primary commodity must be sold to recover all 
costs of production and investments {20). The DCFROR is 
most commonly defined as the rate of return that makes the 
present worth of cash flow from an investment equal to the 
present worth of all after-tax investments {21). For this 
study, a 15-pct DCFROR is considered the necessaiy rate of 
return to cover the opportunity cost of capital plus risk. The 
determined value for the primary commodity price is 
equivalent to the average total cost of production (including 
credits for byproducts) for the operation over its producing 
life, under the set of assumptions and conditions necessary 
to make an evaluation (e.g., mine plan, full capacity 
production, and a market for all output). 

If an operation has more than one product, the prices of 
the byproducts are assumed to be the market prices for the 
period of analysis, which for this study is January 1984. 
Revenues generated from byproducts are credited against 
the costs of production. Market prices used in this analysis 



are shown in table 9. No revenues were generated for 
byproduct ilmenite, when assumed to be stockpiled. 



Table 9.— Market prices of titanium concentrates and related 
minerals for January 1984 {22-24) 



Commodity 



Where applicable 
(f.o.b.) 



Grade, 
pet 



85 TiO, 



Do Richards Bay, 

Republic of South 

Africa 

Byproduct: 

Garnet Iwlill 

Magnetite do 

Monazite concentrate do 

Pig iron do 

Zircon concentrate . . Mill, Australia 65 ZrO; 

Do Mill, United States . . 65 ZrO; 



NAp 

55REO 

NAp 



Price, 
$/mt 



Titanium product: 








Ilmenite concentrate 


Mill, Australia 


'54 + Ti02 


$32.00 


Do 


Mill, United States . . 


'54 + Ti02 


42.00 


Leucoxene 


Mill, Western Australia 


87 TiOj 


225.00 


concentrate. 










Mill 


95 Ti02 


347.00 


Synthetic rutile 


Plant, Mobile, AL, 
United States 


90 + TiO2 


350.00 


Titanium slag 


Sorel, Quebec, 


71 Ti02 


159.00 



10.00 
23.00 
389.00 
235.66 
104.50 
182.00 



'Price does vary on TiOz grade (from -47 to -64 pet TiOs). This also 
applies to the values listed in the text. 



20 



If an operation has more than one titanium product, a 
"primary" product is selected on which to run the price 
determination. The primary product is defined as the 
titanium product that generates the greatest revenues. All 
other products are assumed to be the byproducts. 

Based on the methodology for this study, all capital 
investments incurred earlier than 15 yr before the initial 
year of the analysis (January 1984) are treated as 
depreciated costs. Capital investments incurred less than 15 
yr before January 1984 have the estimated undepreciated 
balance carried forward to January 1984, with all subse- 
quent investments reported in constant January 1984 
dollars. All reinvestment, operating, and transportation 
costs are updated, by computer, to January 1984 U.S. 
dollars using country economic indexes. 

The SAM contains a separate tax records file for each 
State or nation, which includes all the relevant tax 
parameters such as corporate income taxes, property taxes, 
royalties, severance taxes, or other taxes under which a 
mining firm would operate. These tax parameters are 
applied against each mineral deposit under evaluation v«th 
the implicit assumption that each deposit represents a 
separate corporate entity. 

Other items that may be considered in the analysis, if 
they are allowed in the specific country, include deprecia- 
tion, depletion, deferred expenses, investment tax credits, 
and tax loss carryforwards. 

Detailed cash-flow analyses are generated by the SAM 
for each preproduction and production year of an operation, 
beginning with the initial year of the analysis, 1984. Upon 
completion of the individual property analyses for each mine 
and deposit, all properties included in the study were 
simultaneously analyzed and the data were aggi-egated into 
resource availability curves. Two types of curves have been 
generated for this study: (1) total availability curves and (2) 
annual curves at selected production costs. Costs reflect not 
only capital and operating costs, but also all pertinent 
taxation and the cost of transporting the product to the 
nearest port or point of consumption. 

The total resource availability curve is a tonnage-cost 
relationship that shows the total quantity of recoverable 
primary product (titanium concentrate) potentially available 
at each operation's average total cost of production (less 
byproduct credits) over the life of the mine, determined at 
the stipulated (15-pct) DCFROR. Thus, the curve is an 
aggregation of the total potential quantity of titanium 
concentrate that could be produced over the entire 
producing life of each operation, ordered from operations 
with the lowest average total cost of production to those 
with the highest. The curve provides a concise, easy-to- 



read, graphic analysis of the comparative costs associated 
with any given level of potential output and provides an 
estimate of what the average long-run price of the titanium 
concentrate (in January 1984 dollars) would likely have to be 
in order for a given tonnage to be potentially available to the 
marketplace. For this study, separate discussions and 
curves were generated for each titanium concentrate (rutile 
and ilmenite) in order to correctly represent the various 
titanium concentrate availabilities. 

Annual curves are simply disaggregations of the total 
curves to show annual titanium availability at varying costs 
of production. Each curve represents a specific cost level. 
The horizontal axis represents time, either actual years (for 
producers) or the number of years following the commence- 
ment of development (for nonproducing operations). The 
vertical axis represents the annual production level based 
upon aggregation of the proposed production levels of each 
individual property. 

Certain assumptions are inherent in all the curves. 
First, all deposits produce at full operating capacity 
throughout the productive life of the deposit. Second, each 
operation is able to sell all of its byproducts at the stipulated 
prices and all of its primary product at a price sufficient to 
generate total revenues at least equal to its average total 
production cost. Third, development of each nonproducing 
deposit began in the same base year (N) (unless the property 
was developing at the time of the evaluation). Since it is 
difficult to predict when the explored deposits are going to 
be developed, this assumption was necessary in order to 
illustrate the maximum potential availability with a mini- 
mum lag time. It is doubtful, however, that this potential 
would be reached in the short term since it is unlikely that 
all new producers would start preproduction in the same 
year. The preproduction period allows for only the 
minimum engineering and construction period necessary to 
initiate production under the proposed development plan. 
Consequently, the additional time lags and potential costs 
involved in filing environmental impact statements, receiv- 
ing required permits, financing, etc., have not been included 
in the deposit analyses. 



TOTAL AVAILABILITY 

Rutile 

The 40 deposits containing rutile that are analyzed in 
this study contain 29.2 million mt of recoverable rutile 
concentrates, mth an average grade of 95 pet Ti02 (table 
10). These resources are either the primary product of rutile 



Table 10.— Total estimated recoverable rutile concentrates, as of January 1984 

(Thousand metric tons of product) 



Brazil, 
Italy 



India, 
Sri Lanka 



Sierra Leone, 

Republic 
of South Africa 



United 
States 



As primary-product rutile: 

Producers 

Nonproducers 

Total 

As a coproduct from ilmenite; 

Producers 

Nonproducers 

Total 

Grand total . . 



3,270 
4,257 



12,081 


2,837 



1,544 



169 
713 


7,820 
17,051 


7,527 


12,081 


2,837 


1,544 


882 


24,871 


1,136 
461 


39 



866 



1,556 




313 


3,597 
774 


1,597 


39 


866 


1,556 


313 


4,371 



21 



mines or occur as a coproduct from mines producing 
ilmenite. Rutile resources available as a primary product are 
24.9 million mt, 85 pet of the total. 

Estimated recoverable rutile resources located in 
Australia are over 9 million mt, or 31 pet of the total 
recoverable rutile contained in deposits analyzed in this 
study. Rutile potentially recoverable from producing mines 
in Australia is 4.4 miUion mt, about 39 pet of rutile 
concentrates estimated to be recoverable from all producing 
rutile mines included in this study. Recoverable rutile 
concentrates from Australian nonproducing deposits are 
over 4 million mt, more than a quarter of the estimated 
rutile recoverable from all nonproducing rutile deposits. 

Rutile concentrates recoverable from mines and de- 
posits located in India and Sri Lanka are almost 4 million mt; 
this is almost 13 pet of the total. Rutile concentrates located 
in the United States are about 1.2 miUion mt or only 4 pet of 
the total. Other countries with deposits containing recover- 
able rutile concentrates are Sierra Leone, the Republic of 
South Africa, Brazil, and Italy. The Italian Piampaludo 
deposit has the largest future potential of all the nonproduc- 
ing deposits represented on the table. 

The total availability curve for rutile concentrates from 
deposits containing rutile as the major product or as an 
important coproduct is shown in figure 16A. This curve 
shows that about 10.8 million mt of rutile concentrate, 37 pet 
of the total estimated recoverable rutile concentrate, can be 



produced at a cost that is less than the January 1984 market 
price of $347/mt, f.o.b. mill. An additional 14.5 million mt is 
available at costs up to double the market price. The 
tonnage available at costs of less than $700/mt represents 87 
pet of the total resource. The curve does include a very small 
tonnage of rutile associated as a byproduct from ilmenite 
operations (3.5 pet). 

Because Australia is a major world producer of rutile 
concentrates, accounting for 64 pet of world production in 
1981, a separate resource cost curve, figure 165, is 
presented for mines and deposits in Australia. The total 
amount of rutile concentrate potentially recoverable from 
Australian deposits is about 9. 1 milhon mt; almost 52 pet of 
this, 4.7 million mt, is potentially available at a cost of 
production of less than $347/mt. (The curve does not include 
a small quantity of rutile associated with costs greater than 
$l,200/mt.) 

The United States has only a small amount of its total 
rutile resource of 1.2 million mt available at costs less than 
the January 1984 market price. This is associated with the 
only producing primary-product rutile mine in the United 
States in 1984. 

The tonnage of rutile concentrates potentially recover- 
able from producing mines for which rutile was the primary 
product or a major coproduct is shown on figure 16C. The 
total rutile recoverable from producing mines is over 11.4 
million mt of rutile concentrate, only 39 pet of the total 



1,500 

1,250 

1,000 

750 



F 




\ 


500 


^ 




3 




^ 


250 


00 




G> 




■<- 




d 







500 






CO 




C) 




o 






400 


< 




1- 




o 





1 1 r— 

A All mines and deposits 



300 



200 



100 



5 10 15 20 25 30 

T 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 r 







e 


1 ~i— -1 — r ■ 1 T 

Australia 


J 


1,000 


- 






/ - 


750 


C 






^ - 


500 


r 


1 1 


250 


1 1 J 1 1 L 



C Producing mines 




1,250 



12 3 4 5 



1,000- 



750- 



500- 



- 250 



7 8 9 10 
"I 1 1 — 



D Nonproducing deposits 



6789 10 11 2 4 6 

RECOVERABLE RUTILE CONCENTRATE, 1 0« mt 
Figure 16.— Total recoverable rutile concentrate. 



10 12 14 16 18 



potentially recoverable from all rutile mines. (The curve in 
figure 16C shows less than 11.4 million mt because it does 
not include a small quantity of byproduct rutile available at 
costs greater than $450/mt.) About 10.3 miUion mt, 90 pet, is 
potentially available at costs less than $347/mt. 

The total rutile cost-tonnage relationship for nonpro- 
ducing deposits is illustrated in figure 16Z). Resources 
associated with nonproducing deposits were almost 18 
million mt, almost 61 pet of all rutile potentially available. 
(The curve does not include a small quantity of rutile 
associated with costs greater than $l,200/mt.) Approximate- 
ly 500,000 mt was potentially available at a cost of less than 
the current market price, primarily from deposits located in 
restricted areas in Australia, such as national parks. 

This study shows that the majority of low-cost rutile is 
contained in Austialian deposits. It also demonstrates that 
there is only a small quantity of low-cost rutile that was not 
being produced in 1984. Later sections will discuss potential 
substitutes for rutile in the future, such as anatase and 
synthetic rutile. 

Ilmenite 

It is estimated that 246 million mt of ilmenite, 
containing typically 54 pet TiOg, could be recovered from the 
demonstrated resources of 17 primary-product ilmenite 
mines and deposits, 23 primary-product rutile mines and 
deposits, and 3 mines that feed synthetic rutile operations 
(table 11). This demonstrates an abundance of ilmenite 
resources based on a 1981 world production level of 3.6 
million mt/yr. This analysis assumed that for many potential 
byproduct sources the ilmenite would be stockpiled rather 
than sold. Resources of ilmenite that were selected as being 
a part of a stockpile are those that are presently being 
stockpiled or would likely be stockpiled. Most often these 
stockpiles of ilmenite are or would be high in chromium 
content and therefore not a desirable product. Most of these 
resources are located in Australia. This tonnage was part of 
the ilmenite resources, but no revenues from the sale of 
ilmenite were credited. 

Resources associated with primary-product ilmenite 
mines account for approximately 72 pet of the total 
recoverable ilmenite concentrate. Ilmenite resources lo- 
cated in Europe contain by far the greatest portion of all 
primary-product ilmenite potentially recoverable (76 pet). 
Ilmenite potentially recoverable from primary-product 
ilmenite operations located in the United States and 



Australia is 24 million mt and 17 million mt, 13 pet and 10 pet 
of the total, respectively. 

The total recoverable ilmenite from primary ilmenite 
deposits is shown in figure 17A. (The total quantity shown is 
less than 178 million mt because the curve does not include 
ilmenite associated with costs greater than $200/mt.) The 
curve shows that over 145 million mt of ilmenite concentrate 
is potentially recoverable, primarily from European de- 
posits, at a cost less than the January 1984 U.S. cost of 
$42/mt. This is over 81 pet of the total primary ilmenite 
potentially available. 

Primary ilmenite resources located in Austrlia that can 
potentially be recovered at a cost less than the January 1984 
Australian market price of $32/mt are over 10 miUion mt. 



200 



150- 



100 



1 1 1 1 r 

- A Primary ilmenite mines 
and deposits 



50 



1.250 

1,000 

750 

500 

250 



r 



/ 



J L 



25 50 75 100 125 150 175 



1 1 1 1 1 r 

B Rutile mines and deposits 



10 20 30 40 50 60 70 

RECOVERABLE ILMENITE 
CONCENTRATE, 1 0" mt 
Figure 17.— Total recoverable Ilmenite concentrate. 



Table 11.— Total estimated recoverable Ilmenite concentrates, as of January 1984 

(Thousand metric tons of product) 



India, 
Sri Lanl<a 



Italy, 
Finland, 
Norway 



United 
States 



As primary-product ilmenite: 

Producers 

Nonproducers 

Total 

As a byproduct or coproduct with rutile: 

Producers 

Nonproducers 

Total 

As a byproduct or coproduct with Ilmenite used for synthetic 

rutile: Producers 5,286 

Grand total 41 ,009 2,343 

'Included as either a "mixed" product or as a byproduct from ilmenite operations. 



10,015 
7,019 


2,343 







134,929 



'0 
23,694 


147,287 
30,713 


17,034 


2,343 





134,929 


23,694 


178,000 


5,764 
12,925 






28,289 




8,101 


610 
4,829 


34,663 
25,855 


18,689 





28,289 


8,101 


5,439 


60,518 



2,119 
30,408 




143,030 



7,405 

29,133 245,923 



23 



This is 59 pet of the total ilmenite available from Australian 
primary-product ilmenite mines. 

The United States has no primary-product ilmenite that 
can be recovered at a cost less than the January 1984 market 
price of $42/mt; the 24 million mt of ilmenite potentially 
recoverable from primary-product deposits in the United 
States are associated with costs well above the January 1984 
market price of $42/mt. 

As shown in table 11, the tonnage of ilmenite 
concentrates potentially recoverable from primary-product 
ilmenite mines that were in productioa in January 1984 is 
147 million mt. This is 83 pet of the total primary-product 
ilmenite potentially recoverable. The amount potentially 
recoverable at a total cost of less than the January 1984 U.S. 
market price of $42/mt is 145 million mt, or almost 99 pet of 
the total. 

A total in excess of 30 million mt is potentially 
recoverable from nonproducing primary-product ilmenite 
deposits. This is about 17 pet of the total potential 
recoverable ilmenite concentrates associated with primary 
ilmenite operations. Very little of this could be produced at a 
cost below $42/mt. 

Ilmenite potentially recoverable as a byproduct from 
primary-product rutile mines was over 60 million mt in 
January 1984. This is about 24 pet of the total ilmenite 
recoverable from all sources. India and Sri Lanka have 28 
million mt, 47 pet of the byproduct ilmenite potentially 
recoverable from primary-product rutile mines; Australia 
has 19 million mt, or 31 pet. 

The total availability curve for byproduct ilmenite from 
primary-product rutile mines is illustrated in figure IIB. 
(The curve does not include a small quantity of ilmenite 
associated with costs greater than $l,200/mt of rutile.) 
Ilmenite tonnage is associated with the cost of rutile because 
only primary-product rutile operations are included here; 
therefore, the viability of each operation is determined by 
the viability of rutile production. About 37 million mt of 
byproduct ilmenite is potentially recoverable at a primary- 
product rutile cost less than the January 1984 rutile 
concentrate market price, which was $347/mt. This is about 
62 pet of the total byproduct ilmenite potentially recoverable 
from primary-product rutile mines. Much of this byproduct 
ilmenite is presently being stockpiled. Revenues from the 
stockpiled ilmenite are not included in the analysis. A total 
of 11.6 million mt of ilmenite is considered as stockpiled 
material from a total of 10 mines and deposits, most of which 
are located in eastern Australia. Ten percent of this total is 
from mines presently producing. 

More than 7 million mt of ilmenite are potentially 
recoverable as a eoproduet from synthetic rutile operations; 
this is less than 3 pet of all ilmenite potentially available. 
Over 6 million mt are potentially recoverable at costs at or 
below the Januai-y 1984 market price for synthetic rutile, 
$350/mt. 

Ilmenite resources used in the production of titanium 
slags, synthetic rutile, or as a mixed ilmenite-leucoxene- 
rutile product (as in Du Font's operations in the United 
States) are discussed later in this section. 

This study indicates that ilmenite resources are vast 
and that the majority of low-cost ilmenite is contained in 
European deposits. It also demonstrates that there is a 
significant amount of low-cost ilmenite that is not being 
produced or sold. This ilmenite is associated with primary- 
product rutile operations and was stockpiled rather than 
sold under the market conditions prevailing in January 1984. 
Much of this ilmenite has a high content of chrome, which is 
considered a deleterious material. 



Leucoxene 

It is estimated that approximately 2.9 million mt of 
leucoxene concentrate, containing approximately 67 pet 
Ti02, is potentially recoverable as a byproduct of primary- 
product rutile, primary-product ilmenite, or the synthetic 
rutile operations included in this study (table 12). These 
resources comprise only a small portion of the titanium 
resources included in this analysis. 

Leucoxene potentially recoverable from resources 
located in Australia is 2.4 million mt of concentrate, or 82 pet 
of the total. The remaining 500,000 mt are located in India 
and the United States. Producing mines in Australia 
account for 63 pet of the total for Australia, or 1.5 milhon mt. 

Curves were not drawn for leucoxene because of the 
small number of deposits. Potentially recoverable leucoxene 
concentrate associated with six primary-product rutile 
mines included in the analysis is 1.4 million mt, which could 
be recovered at a cost of production for the associated rutile 
lower than its January 1984 market price. 

Potentially recoverable leucoxene concentrate associ- 
ated with five primary-product ilmenite mines included in 
the analysis is about 1.0 miUion mt; 82 pet of these 
concentrates could be recovered at a cost of production for 
the associated ilmenite lower than its January 1984 market 
price. Leucoxene concentrates associated with two synthe- 
tic rutile operations included in the analysis are 500,000 mt. 
All of these concentrates can be produced at a cost lower 
than the January 1984 synthetic rutile market price. 

Table 12.— Total estimated recoverable leucoxene 
concentrates, as of January 1984 

(Thousand metric tons of product) 

Australia India United total 
States 

As a byproduct from primary- 
product rutile: 

Producers 

Nonproducers 

Total 

As a byproduct from primary- 
product ilmenite: 

Producers 

Nonproducers 

Total 

As a byproduct from synthietic 
rutile: Producers 

Grand total . . . 



Synthetic Rutile 

It is estimated that 15.5 million mt of synthetic rutile 
concentrate, containing approximately 93 pet TiOa, is 
potentially available from five properties in which ilmenite is 
being used to feed synthetic rutile plants (table 13). 

Table 13.— Total estimated recoverable synthetic rutile 
concentrates, as of January 1984 

(Thousand metric tons of primary-product synthetic rutile) 



260 
677 


342 



122 
45 


724 
722 


937 


342 


167 


1,446 


748 
215 











748 
215 


963 








963 


490 








490 





Australia, 
New Zealand 


India 


Total 


Producers 

Nonproducers 

Total 


2,341 

2,147 

4,488 


11,054 



11,054 


13,395 
2,147 

15,542 



24 



Table 14.— Total estimated recoverable titanium slag, as of January 1984 

(Thousand metric tons of primary-product slag) 





Australia 


Brazil 


Canada 


Republic 
of Soutti Africa 


United 
States 


Total 


Producers 






13,710 


79,933 
5,837 


9,098 




2,542 


89 031 




5,092 


27 181 








Total 


5,092 


13,710 


85,770 


9,098 


2,542 


116,212 



The synthetic rutile operations included in the analysis 
represent those with current or proposed production of 
synthetic rutile from ilmenite. The plants included are 
located in Australia and India, with the only nonproducer 
located in New Zealand. Synthetic rutile plants located in 
the United States, Japan, Malaysia, and Taiwan were not 
included because the source of the ilmenite processed could 
not be determined. 

Much of the ilmenite potential, discussed in earlier 
sections of this report, could be processed to produce 
synthetic rutile if new plants were built. The world 
resources of ilmenite are very large, and the costs to 
produce ilmenite and convert it to synthetic rutile are quite 
comparable to those for the production of rutile; therefore, 
the potential production of synthetic rutile could be 
significant in the future. Owing to the fact that the long-run 
availability of rutile is limited, the production of synthetic 
rutile is expected to grow. 

Titanium Slag 

It is estimated that 116 million mt of titanium slag, 
containing at least 71 pet Ti02, is potentially recoverable 
from the five properties included in this study (table 14). 
Slag potentially recoverable from two properties in Canada 
is 86 million mt, 74 pet of the total slag included in this 
study. Slag potentially recoverable from the Republic of 
South Africa is 9 million mt, almost 8 pet of the total slag 
included in this study. Producing operations, all of which 
have a cost of production below the market prices of $159/mt 
for Sorel slag and $181/mt for Richards Bay slag, have 
resources of 89 million mt potentially recoverable. This is 77 
pet of the total titanium slag potentially recoverable from 
properties included in this study. 

The quantity of titanium slag that potentially is 
recoverable, as with that of ilmenite, is large. Some slag is 
high grade and has been used in place of rutile as a feed for 
chloride pigment production. Additional high-grade slag 
may be potentially recoverable in the future. QIT, the 
producer of Sorel slag in Canada, has recently upgraded its 
slag to 80 pet TiOg (25). 

Anatase 

Anatase potentially recoverable from three nonproduc- 
ing properties in Brazil is 38 million mt of concentrate. 
Although it has a slightly lower grade, anatase is a potential 
replacement for rutile. One of the Brazihan properties, 
Tapira, was being developed during 1984, with the other 
two in pilot plant stages. Since there is no published market 
price for anatase, cost comparisons are not possible. 
However, the total cost of production estimated for these 
deposits is between the present market prices of rutile and 
ilmenite. 



Miscellaneous Titanium Operations 

It is estimated that 6.8 miUion mt of a mixed 
ilmenite-leucoxene concentrate are potentially available 
from four properties in the southeastern United States (two 
producing and two nonproducing). This high-grade concen- 
trate (greater than 60 pet Ti02) is used or would be used for 
the specially designed Du Pont chloride plants. Du Pont 
owns the two producing properties. Since the product is 
produced and consumed in integrated operations, total cost 
comparisons are not possible. 

A deposit in Colorado contains demonstrated resources 
of perovskite. Since there are no published prices, cost 
comparisons are also not possible. 

A producing glass sand mine in the southeastern United 
States with demonstrated resources of ilmenite is included 
in the analysis. The ilmenite would be a byproduct, but it 
was not being produced during 1984. 



ANNUAL AVAILABILITY 

Annual availability curves are disaggregations of the 
total resource availability curves showing potential availa- 
bility on an annual basis. Each curve represents a specific 
cost level. The horizontal axis represents time, either actual 
years for producers, or the number of years follov^ng the 
commencement of development for nonproducing opera- 
tions. The vertical axis represents the annual production 
level. 

Rutile 

Figure 18 shows the projected annual capacities for 
rutile mines that were in production at the time of this 
analysis. The curve, representing annual production at 
operations with costs of production less than the January 




1984 86 88 90 92 94 

YEAR 
Figure 18.— Annual availability curves for producing rutile 
mines, at various total costs of production. 



25 



1984 market price of approximately $350/mt, gradually 
declines until the year 2000 and then decreases dramatically. 
The curve shows that in 1984 about 350,000 mt could be 
produced at a cost less than $350/mt. Australian production 
is 48 pet of this, or 170,000 mt. These figures compare 
closely with the world rutile production for 1981 of just over 
350,000 mt (minus the U.S.S.R.) and 230,000 mt for 
Australia (see table 1). This curve illustrates that by the 
year 2000 a projected annual amount of about 320,000 mt 
could be produced for a cost of production equal to or less 
than $350/mt. This is 91 pet of 1984 production, representing 
only a slight decline at this point. Australia could produce 46 
pet of this, or 147,000 mt. Shortly after the year 2000, 
production of rutile concentrates from mines producing as of 
January 1984 is likely to decline significantly as the 
demonstrated resources from many mines, particularly in 
Austraha, are depleted. This decline could be offset if new 
resources are found, if inferred tonnages become demon- 
strated, or if production begins from properties that 
currently are not producing, such as the higher cost rutile 
mines or the Brazilian anatase deposits. 

Annual availability curves showing the projected 
annual production for deposits that were not in production at 
the time of this analysis are shown in figure 19. As 
illustrated, the cost of production from these properties is 
significantly greater than the current market price of rutile 
concentrates. The price of rutile would have to increase 
significantly in order for most of these operations to 
generate the revenues necessary to cover their high costs. 
This also illustrates, on an annual basis, the point made in 
the discussion of the total availability of rutile, that most of 
the economical rutile resources are currently in production. 

The three curves in figure 19 represent annual 
production at operations with costs less than $450/mt, 
$600/mt, and $900/mt. All three curves reach their highest 
production level 4 yr after initiation of development, 
assuming all of these properties were to initiate develop- 
ment in the same base year. At this peak year, the $450/mt 
curve shows a potential production level of 80,000 mt/yr, all 
from Australia; the $600/mt curve reaches 182,000 mt/yr, 63 
pet from Australia; and the $900/mt curve reaches a 
production level of 310,000 mt/yr, 71 pet from Australia. 

All three curves show a decline in production over a 
period of 16 yr. At this point there is no production at the 
$450/mt cost level, and the $600/mt curve shows a potential 
production of 103,000 mt/yr, 34 pet from Australia. The 
$900/mt curve shows a potential production of 182,000 
mt/yr, 52 pet from Australia. The rutile available from the 



nonprodueing mines in this analysis could replace the rutile 
from producing mines when they become depleted, but at 
substantially higher costs. The higher costs also should 
encourage the development of alternate sources, including 
synthetic rutile production from ilmenite concentrates. 
Rutile from the nonprodueing deposits not only is high in 
cost, but is very limited in quantity; therefore, it could act as 
a replacement only for a limited amount of time, given a 
static resource base and production at full-capacity levels. 



Ilmenite 

Annual production from producing operations of both 
primary-product and byproduct ilmenite, with costs near or 
below market prices, could potentially have been 2.7 million 
mt/yr in 1984. This quantity may not match actual 
production figures because it assumes mines are operating 
at full capacity and includes byproduct ilmenite, some of 
which is assumed in this analysis to be stockpiled and not 
sold. In addition, most published data for ilmenite produc- 
tion include ilmenite going to slag or synthetic rutile, while 
the present analysis treats this ilmenite separately. 

Annual production of both primary-product and bypro- 
duct ilmenite from nonprodueing deposits could potentially 
be a maximum of 2.4 million mt/yr. Those nonprodueing 
operations with costs of production equal to or less than 
twice the January 1984 market prices could produce 
annually a maximum of 1.1 million mt. There is very little 
potential annual production of ilmenite from nonprodueing 
deposits with costs of production near or below the January 
1984 market price. 

Leucoxene 

Annual availability of leucoxene concentrate with costs 
near or below the market price could potentially have been 
73,200 mt in 1984; this includes leucoxene as a byproduct of 
producing primary-product rutile operations and primary- 
product ilmenite operations, or from mines feeding synthetic 
rutile operations. 

Annual availability of leucoxene from nonprodueing 
rutile and ilmenite deposits could potentially be 76,200 
mt/yr. At a cost of production less than the January 1984 
market prices, annual production from nonprodueing opera- 
tions could be 65,200 mt. 



Synthetic Rutile 



T 1 r- 

KEY 
N Year preproduction 
development begins 




N +2 +4 +6 +8 +10+12+14+16+18+20+22 
YEAR 

Figure 19.— Annual availability curves for nonprodueing rutile 
mines, at various total costs of production. 



Annual availability of synthetic rutile from the produc- 
ing operations included in this study potentially have been a 
maximum of 193,300 mt in 1984. The one nonprodueing 
synthetic rutile operation (Barrytown in New Zealand) 
could not cover its costs at the January 1984 market price. 

Titanium Slag 

Annual availability of titanium slag from producing 
operations could potentially have been a maximum of 1.2 
million mt in 1984. This compares closely with the 1981 
world production value of 1.1 million mt of slag. At that 
level, slag production could be maintained into the next 
century. Annual availability from nonprodueing slag opera- 
tions (one each in the United States, Brazil, and Australia) 
could potentially be more than 800,000 mt/yr. No nonpro- 
dueing slag operations could cover their costs at the January 
1984 market price. 



Table 15.— Total potentially recoverable zircon concentrates, as of January 1984 

(Thousand metric tons of product) 

Australia, g .. India, Republic United 

New Zealand Sri Lanka of South Africa States 

As a byproduct from primary-product rutile: 

Producers 

Nonproducers 

Total 

As a byproduct from primary-product ilmenite: 

Producers 

Nonproducers 

Total 

As a byproduct from other titanium sources:' 

Producers 

Nonproducers 

Total 

Grand total 14,157 302 2,048 3,022 3,624 

'Includes slag operations, mines and deposits producing a mixed titanium product, and those ilmenite mines feeding synthetic rutile plants. 



4,312 
4,393 






1,817 







302 
1,278 


6,431 
5,671 


8,705 





1,817 





1,580 


12,102 


1,018 
1,294 


302 













77 


1,320 
1,371 


2,312 


302 








77 


2,691 


2,977 
163 






231 



3,022 



1,150 
817 


7,380 
980 


3.140 





231 


3,022 


1,967 


8,360 



23,153 



Anatase 

No anatase mines were operating as of January 1984, 
although development continued. Annual availability of 
anatase from nonproducing operations could potentially be a 
maximum of 281,000 mt/yr. This large annual tonnage of 
anatase is a significant potential replacement source for 
rutile and could be maintained for approximately 20 yr. 

Mixed Concentrate 

Annual availability of a mixed concentrate of ilmenite 
and leucoxene from both producing and nonproducing 
operations could potentially be a maximum of 243,800 mt/yr. 



Table 16.— Average revenue distribution for selected mines 
producing zircon, based on 1984 market prices 

(Percent) 

Australia 

India, United 

East West Sri Lanka States 
coast coast 

From rutile 75 9 44 W 

From ilmenite 1 65 38 W 

Total 76 74 82 66 

From zircon 23 7 9 33 

From other commodities 1 19 9 1 

W Withheld to avoid disclosing company proprietary data. 



AVAILABILITY OF BYPRODUCT ZIRCON 

In addition to the various titanium minerals recoverable 
from beach sand operations, zircon concentrates often 
contribute significantly to the economic viability of an 
operation. It is estimated that zircon concentrates that could 
be recovered from 41 mines and deposits included in this 
study total just over 23 million mt. The zircon concentrates, 
which contain approximately 65 pet Zr02, are a byproduct of 
the titanium operations. Potential zircon concentrates 
recoverable from resources located in Australia account for 
nearly two-thirds of the total, while those in the United 
States account for only 16 pet. 

Table 15 shows that 65 pet of all recoverable zircon 
concentrates included in this study would come from mines 
that were producing titanium concentrates as of January 
1984. This quantity represents the amount of zircon 
concentrates available at roughly the market prices for the 
various titanium products. The largest portion of this is from 
producing mines in Austraha (55 pet). 

The revenues generated from the production of zircon 
concentrates can often be quite significant. Table 16 shows 
that as much as one-third of the revenues generated from 
many of the operations in this study are from zircon 
concentrates, based on January 1984 market prices for all 
commodities recovered. The ratio between revenues gener- 
ated by titanium concentrates (rutile and ilmenite) and those 
generated by zircon concentrates ranges from a low of 66 to 



33 to a high of 82 to 9. Although titanium concentrates are 
clearly the primary or most significant product produced 
from most of the mines included in this study, zircon 
concentrates can be a very significant revenue generator, 
even to the extent of making the difference as to whether 
the mine is economically viable. 

It is interesting to note that one of the regions of the 
world that produces large quantities of rutile (the east coast 
of Australia) also produces significant amounts of zircon. 
This relationship can be seen in the form of revenues 
generated. The west coast of Australia, where ilmenite is 
most often the primary commodity from the beach sand 
operations, produces significantly less zircon and this too is 
reflected in terms of the revenues generated. 

The availability of zircon concentrates on an annual 
basis was also considered. At the January 1984 market price 
for titanium concentrates, over 570,000 mt of zircon was 
available in 1984 from the producing mines included in this 
study. This compares quite well with the nearly 550,000 mt 
produced in 1981 (excluding the U.S.S.R. and China) {26, p. 
934). Ovnng to the fact that a majority of zircon is produced 
from rutile mines, which this study shows will be depleting 
after the turn of the century, the annual availability of zircon 
concentrates from producing mines should also be on the 
decline. An additional 350,000 mt/yr of byproduct zircon, at 
the minimum, could be available in the future from deposits 
presently not in production, but at costs substantially higher 
than the January 1984 market prices for the various 
titanium products. 



27 



The availability of hafnium can be directly related to the 
availability of zircon, since they are nearly always found 
together in nature. As a rule-of-thumb, there is tyiJically 2 
pet hafnium found vvith zirconium (or Hf02 equal to 2 pet of 



the amount of ZrOe). Therefore, based on the quantity of 
zircon concentrates this study has shown to be available 
(over 23 million mt) as of January 3984, a total of 463,000 mt 
Hf02 is also available. 



CONCLUSIONS 



Titanium is used primarily in the form of Ti02 as a 
source of pigments. Titanium metal is considered a strategic 
and critical material for the United States because of its 
defense and aerospace applications. In an attempt to assess 
the world vidde availabihty of titanium mineral resources, the 
Bureau evaluated 63 mines and deposits in market economy 
countries. The selected mines and deposits include all known 
resources of titanium at the demonstrated resource level 
that met the criteria of the study and that can be mined and 
processed with current technology, as of January 1984. 

Approximately 438 million mt of Ti02 is contained in the 
demonstrated resources of these mines and deposits. These 
resources include 115 milHon mt in North America (the 
United States and Canada), 93 million mt in South America 
(Brazil), 120 million mt in Europe (Finland, Italy, and 
Norway), 40 million mt in Asia (India and Sri Lanka), 20 
million mt in Africa (Sierra Leone and the Republic of South 
Africa), and 50 million mt in Oceania (Australia and New 
Zealand). In addition, the studied deposits also contain 
approximately 314 million mt of contained TiOa at the 
inferred resource level. 

Approximately 29 million mt of rutile concentrate is 
potentially recoverable from 40 deposits analyzed, 39 pet 
from producing mines. Approximately 11 million mt of rutile 
is potentially recoverable at total production costs of less 
than the January 1984 market price of $347/mt. About 25 
million mt could be available at a net production cost of twice 
the January 1984 market price. Australia accounts for about 
one-third of the total rutile concentrate available. 

In terms of annual availability, it is estimated that 
approximately 350,000 mt/yr of rutile concentrate was 
available in 1984, from mines producing at the time of this 
study, at a cost of production less than the January 1984 
market price. This compares with actual 1981 production, 
excluding the U.S.S.R. The analysis showed that after the 
year 2000, production of rutile concentrates from producing 
mines will decline significantly as many mines, particularly 
in Australia, deplete their currently estimated demons- 
trated resources. This would indicate that within the coming 
decade there could be a shortage of high-grade, low-cost 
rutile. Potential production from the nonproducing rutile 
deposits could act as a replacement source for a limited 
amount of time, but at a substantially higher total cost. 
Production could continue from the present producers if new- 
resources were discovered at their deposits or if any of their 
inferred tonnage were to become demonstrated, although 
this would seem less likely. 



Approximately 246 million mt of ilmenite concentrate is 
estimated to have been recoverable, as the primary product 
(72 pet of the total) or as a coproduct or byproduct of rutile, 
from the deposits included in this study. Over 187 million mt 
of this is potentially available at a total cost of less than the 
January 1984 market prices (145 million mt from primary- 
product ilmenite, 37 million mt as byproduct from rutile, and 
5 million mt as byproduct with ilmenite feeding synthetic 
rutile plants). European countries had by far the greatest 
portion (143 milHon mt) of all ilmenite resources, both 
primary and byproduct. These data indicate that an 
abundance of ilmenite is available, compared with othe^ 
sources of titanium, paticularly rutile, although much of this 
ilmenite may not presently be usable because of high levels 
of chromium. 

Annual production from producing mines of both 
primary and byproduct ilmenite in 1984 could potentially 
have been a maximum of 2.7 million mt/yr. An additional 1.1 
million mt/yr is available from the nonproducing deposits at 
twice the January 1984 market prices. 

Much of the ilmenite potential discussed in this report 
could be used to produce synthetic rutile if new plants were 
built. The world resources for ilmenite are very large, and 
the costs to produce ilmenite and convert it to synthetic 
rutile are quite comparable to those for the production of 
rutile; therefore, the potential production of synthetic rutile 
could be significant in the future. Owing to the fact that the 
long-run availability of rutile is limited, the production of 
synthetic rutile is expected to grow. 

Demonstrated resources of leucoxene concentrates that 
are potentially recoverable as a byproduct of primary- 
product ilmenite and primary-product rutile mines are about 
2.9 million mt. An additional 15.5 million mt of synthetic 
ratile concentrate is available from the synthetic rutile 
operations included in this study, and 116.2 million mt of 
titanium slag is also available. Anatase deposits in Brazil, a 
number of which are presently developing, include an 
additional 38 million mt. 

This analysis has determined that in the long run, 
resources of rutile are limited. It has also determined that 
there are various other sources of high-grade titanium. 
Anatase deposits in Brazil have the potential to be a 
significant source; slag deposits in Canada and the Republic 
of South Africa could increase capacity; higher cost rutile 
deposits could be developed; and most importantly, an 
increased world synthetic rutile capacity, based on the large 
resources of ilmenite, could become the most significant 
resource, in the future, of high-grade titanium concentrate. 



28 



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66. Mining Magazine. Brazilian Ilmenite Prospect. V. 148, No. 4, 
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67. Beurlen, H., and J. P. Cassedanne. The Brazilian Mineral 
Resources. Earth-Sci. Rev., No. 17, 1981, p. 190. 

68. Mining Journal (London). Brazil: Titanium Find. V. 293, No. 
7514, Aug. 24, 1979, p. 146. 

69. Latin American Mining Letter. CVRD . . . Gearing up for 
Major TiO., Production. V. 3, No. 11, June 7, 1984, p. 4. 

70. Harben, P. Titanium Minerals in Brazil — Progress and 
Potential. Ind. Miner. (London), No. 196, Jan. 1984, pp. 45-48. 

71. Industrial Minerals (London). Brazil — Big Titanium Ore 
Find. No. 54, Mar. 1972, p. 18. 

72. Industrial Minerals (London). World Producers of Titanium 
Minerals. No. 4, Jan. 1968, pp. 15-23. 

73. Yokes, F. M. Introduction. Ch. in Minerals Deposits of 
Europe, ed. by S. H. U. Bowie, A. Kvalheim, and H. W. Haslam. 
Inst. Min. and Met. Miner. Soc. (London), v. 1, 1978, pp. 20-21. 

74. Paarma, H. Magnetic- Ilmenite Lenses Occur in Anorthosite 
Along Amphibolite Contact. Min. World, Aug. 1956, pp. 64-66. 



75. Soininen, J. Shrink Stoping With Machine Loading Makes 
Output 146 Tons Per Man Shift. Min. World, Aug. 1956, pp. 66-68. 

76. Harki, I. Discovery and Mining Methods at Finland's Largest 
Fe-Ti-V Mine. Min. World, Aug. 1956, pp. 62-63. 

77. Rautaruukki Oy (Finland). Annual Report for 1980. 30 pp. 

78. Lindholm, 0., and R. Auttonen. Geology of the Otanmaki 
Mine. Paper in Precambrian Ores of Finland. Guide to Excursions 
078 A -h C, Part 2 (Finland), ed. by T. A. HakU (Proc. 26th Int. Geol. 
Congr., Paris, 1980). Geol. Surv. Finland, Espoo, 1980, pp. 25- 
33. 

79. Bugge, J. A. W. Norway. Ch. in Mineral Deposits of Europe, 
ed by S. H. U. Bowie, A. Kvalheim, and H. W. Haslami. Inst. Min 
and Met. Miner. Soc, London, v. 1, 1978, pp. 217-220. 

80. Dixon, C. J. The Tellnes Ilmenite Deposit — Norway. Sec. in 
Atlas of Economic Mineral Deposits, ed. by C. J. Dixon. Cornell 
Univ. Press, Ithaca, NY, 1979, pp. 108-109. 

81. Geins, H. P. A Short Description of the Iron-Titanium 
Provinces in Norway With Special Reference to Those in 
Production. Miner. Sci. and Eng., v. 3, No. 3, 1971, pp. 13-24. 

82. Gillson, J. L. Titanium. Ch. in Industrial Minerals and Rocks, 
ed. by S. H. Dolbear. AIME, 2d ed., 1949, p. 1048. 

83. Hoyt, C. D. Time Studies and Cost Accounting Increase 
Efficiency at Titania. Min. Eng. (N.Y.), v. 189, No. 9, 1950, pp. 
935-940. 

84. Industrial Minerals (London). Italian Rutile? No. 117, June 
1977, pp. 10-11. 

85. The Industrial Minerals of Italy. No. 148, Jan. 1980, 

p. 45. 

86. Mancini, A., and G. Martinotti. Valorisation of New Titanium 
Resource: Titaniferous Eclogites. Paper in 10th World Mining 
Congress (Istanbul, Turkey). Sec. IV-15, Sept. 1979, pp. 1-19. 

87. Mining Engineering (New York). Sand Deposits of Titanium 
Minerals; World Survey of Processes as Illustrated by Indian 
Deposits. V. 6, No. 4, 1954, pp. 421-429. 

88. Kanapathipittai, K. C. Ilmenite From the East Coast of 
Ceylon. Min. Mag., v. 110, No. 7, Apr. 1964, pp. 239-240. 

89. Hockin, H. W. Ilmenite From Alluvial Deposits in Malaya, A 
Note on Composition and Texture. Malaya, Dep. Mines, Bull. 1, 
1957, 6 pp. 

90. Industrial Minerals (London). Byproduct Minerals From Tin 
Mining. No. 57, June 1972, p. 35. 

91. Spencer, R. V., and F. R. Williams. The Development of a 
Rutile Mining Industry in Sierra Leone. Paper in Proceedings of the 
Eighth Commonwealth Mining and Metallurgical Congress, Austra- 
lia and New Zealand, 1965. Inst. Min. and Metall., London, v. 6, 
1967, pp. 1337-1341. 

92. Mining Magazine. Sierra Rutile. V. 144, No. 6, June 1981, pp. 
458-463. 

93. Skilling's Mining Review. Sierra Rutile Ltd. Commences 
Production in Sierra Leone, West Africa. V. 68, No. 23, June 9, 
1979, p. 8. 

94. World Mining. Mining One of the World's Richest Rutile 
Deposits Begins. V. 32, No. 9, Aug. 1979, p. 88. 

95. Sierra Leone; Government Agrees to Bethlehem- 

Nord Resources Rutile Development Plan. V. 28, No. 9, Aug. 1975, 
p. 93. 

96. Behn, S. H. Heavy Mineral Beach Deposits in the Karroo 
System. A Nuclear Raw Materials Investigation, Primarily for the 
Atomic Energy Board. S. Afr. Geol. Surv. Mem. 56, 1965, p. 1. 

97. Coetzee, C. B. (ed.). Mineral Resources of the Republic of 
South Africa. S. Afr., Geol. Surv. Handb. 7, 5th ed., 1976, p. 462. 

98. Whitworth, H. F. The Zircon-Rutile Deposits on the Beaches 
of the East Coast of Australia With Special Reference to Their 
Mode of Occurrence and the Origin of the Mineral. N.S.W., Dep. 
Mines, Tech. Rep., v. 4, 1956, 60 pp. 

99. Connah, T. H. Beach Sand Heavy Mineral Deposits of 
Queensland. Geol. Surv. Queensl., Publ. 302; pt. 1, 1961, 31 pp. 

100. Western Australia School of Mines. Reference Papers: 
Exploitation of Mineral Sands (A Course Text Book). 1979, 323 pp. 

101. Gardner, D. E. Beach Sand Heavy Mineral Deposits of 
Eastern Australia. Aust., Bur. Miner. Resour., Geol. and 
Geophys., Bull. 28, 1955, 103 pp. 

102. McKellar, J. B. The Eastern Australian Rutile Province. 
Sec. in Economic Geology of Australia and Papua New Guinea, ed. 



by M. Mauby. Monogr. 5, 1980, pp. 1055-1062; available upon 
request from R. Fantel, BuMines, Denver, CO. 

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South Wales, Australia). The Mineral Sand Mining Industry in New 
South Wales, A Case for Re-Appraisal of Policies. Oct. 1980, App. 
p. 20. 

104. Rutile & Zircon Mines Ltd. (Newcastle, New South Wales, 
Australia). The Company and Its Products. 1977, 6 pp. 

105. Heath, A. A., and Partners (Sydney, New South Wales, 
Australia). Moreton Island Environmental Impact Study and 
Strategic Plan. 1975, 38 pp. 

106. Lewis, J. W. Fraser Island Revisited. Min. Rev. (Adelaide), 
Nov. 1979, pp. 4-12. 

107. Mineral Deposits Ltd. (Southport, Queensland, Australia). 
Environmental Impact Study Report for Proposed Subdivi- 
sion—Rocky Point. 1975, 22 pp. 

108. Terence Willsteed and Associates (Sydney, New South 
Wales, Australia). List of mining tracts. Appen, to rep., undated, 7 
pp. ; available upon request from R. Fantel, BuMines, Denver, 
CO. 

109. Ian Potter and Co. (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia). 
Report on Ore Reserves by 15 Mining Tenements Held by 
Murphyores Inc. Pty Ltd. in Queensland. Feb. 23, 1968, 18 pp. 



110. Ward, J. Australian Resources of Mineral Sands. Aust. 
Miner. Ind. (Econ. Notes and Stat.), v. 25, No. 1, 1972, pp. 12-23. 

HI. Pinter, J. Mining Heavy-Mineral Sand in AustraUa — 
Summary. Paper in Circum-Pacific Energy and Mineral Resources, 
ed. by M. T. Halbouty, J. C. Maher, and H. M. Lian (Proc. Conf. 
Honolulu, HI, Aug. 26-30, 1974). Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., 1976, pp. 
418-421. 

112. Australia, Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and 
Geophysics. Titanium and Zirconium. Bull. 72, Aug. 1965, pp. 
623-629. 

113. Kile, M. G. The Barrambie Titanium- Vanadium-Iron De- 
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Developmental Potential. Oct. 1982, 60 pp; available from the 
Ferrovanadium Corp., Perth, W.A., Australia. 

114. Hancock, P. M. and Associates (Hamilton, New Zealand). 
Extracts From New Zealand Titanium Resources. Dec. 1980, p. 46. 

115. Ferguson, F. A., A. Garnett, and 0. Kamatari. CEH 
Marketing Research Report, Titanium Dioxide Pigments. Ch. in 
Chemical Economics Handbook. Stanford Res. Inst. Int., Aug. 
1981, pp. 788.5000A-788.5005L. 

116. Raymond Kaiser Engineers, Inc. Development of Engineer- 
ing and (Dost Data for Foreign Titanium Properties (contract 
J0215037). BuMines OFR 20-85, 1982, 38 pp.; NTIS PB 85-172997. 



31 



APPENDIX A.— WORLD TITANIUM DEPOSIT GEOLOGY AND RESOURCES 



The following discussions give an overview of the world 
resources of titanium by region. Included in these discus- 
sions are primarily those deposits evaluated for this study. 

NORTH AMERICA 
United States 

Major titanium mines and deposits in the United States 
that were included in this study are shown on figure A-1. 
The figure shows the abundance of deposits along the east 
coast, most of which are beach-sand-type deposits. 

The most important titanium resources of the United 
States, from a commercial standpoint, are located in 
Florida, just south of Jacksonville. There are three 
producing mines in this region, one owned by Associated 
Minerals Ltd., the Green Cove Springs Mine, and two 
owned by Du Pont, the Trail Ridge and Highland 
operations. These mines are believed to be ancient elevated 
beach sand deposits of Pliocene to Pleistocene age, although 
recent work has supported the statement that much of the 
Trail Ridge ore is aeolian dune (27, p. 30).' 



'Italicized numbers in parentheses refer to items in the list of references 
preceding this appendix. 



The Green Cove Springs ore body, located on the Duval 
Upland, is approximately 19 km long, 1 km wide, and 6 m 
thick, with the ore overlain by approximately 0.5 m of 
topsoil. The two Du Pont operations are actually one single 
ore body found on the Trail Ridge feature, separated by 
State Highway 225. The ore body on the Trail Ridge feature 
is approximately 27 km long, 4 km wide, and from 8 to 21 m 
thick. Here, too, the ore is located just below the thin 
topsoil. 

Resources are estimated to be greater than 400 million 
mt of sand (or approximately 5 million mt of contained Ti02) 
at the demonstrated level for both these deposits, and 
possibly as much as a billion tons of sand (over 10 million mt 
of contained Ti02) when inferred resources are included {2). 
The average heavy-mineral content of these deposits is 3 to 
4 pet. The most significant heavy minerals produced are 
rutile, altered ilmenite, leucoxene, zircon, and monazite. 
High-grade Ti02 minerals account for about 45 pet of the 
heavy minerals at Trail Ridge (28). The Trail Ridge and 
Highland operations have been producing since 1949 and 
1955, respectively, while the Green Cove Springs Mine 
started up in 1972. 

Humphreys Mining Co. had been mining heavy 
minerals in Florida near the town of Boulougne during the 
1970's, but by 1980, the deposit was completely mined out 
and, therefore, this mine was not included in our evaluation. 

Allard Lake • 



Pin-Rouge Lake4& 



Pit 



/Iron Mountain 



* 



^Powderliorn 



.Maclntyre* 



Piney River "^ 



rOak Grove' ^n 
'Silica Mine/O- 



4e>0tter Creek Valley 

1^ Magnet Cove 



LEGEND 
H: Mines and deposits 



Cumberland Island 
Brunswick-ANamaha! 

gGrs'en Cove Springs ^.^ 
' Trail Ridge ^ 
Highland 



Figure A-1.— Location of titanium mines and titanium-bearing deposits of North America. 



32 



Two significant deposits in Georgia containing heavy 
minerals, particularly titanium, were included in the 
evaluation. Both are located in the southeast corner of the 
State, the Cumberland Island deposit on the coast just north 
of the Florida State line, and the Brunswick-Altamaha 
deposit slightly inland just north of the town of Brunswick. 
Neither of these deposits has ever been developed, although 
various drilling programs have defined the ore bodies. These 
deposits are placer beach sand deposits of Pleistocene to 
Recent age. The Cumberland Island deposit is located in the 
Silver Bluff Shoreline Complex covering the entire island 
(2,833 ha) and is overlain by 0.2 m of overburden. Heavy 
minerals are located in the upper, sandy unit. The 
Brunswick-Altamaha deposit is found in the Princess Anne 
Shoreline Complex. It is 10,460 m long and 805 m wide, and 
has a thickness of 4.6 m. It, too, is overlain by 0.2 m of 
topsoil. 

Ilmenite is the major titanium-bearing ore mineral at 
both the Georgian deposits. Small amounts of rutile and/or 
leucoxene are present. Zircon and monazite may also be 
recoverable. The average heavy-mineral content of the 
Silver Bluff Shoreline Complex (for Cumberland Island) has 
been reported to be 1.7 pet, containing over 45 pet ilmenite, 
nearly 3 pet leucoxene, and almost 7 pet rutile. Zircon and 
monazite have also been reported to be nearly 13 pet and 
over 1 pet, respectively, of the heavy minerals (29). 
Demonstrated resources for the two deposits range from 200 
to 500 million mt of sand (or from 1.5 to 4 million mt of 
contained Ti02). Identified resources from old beach sands 
in Georgia have been reported to contain nearly 3 million mt 
TiOs (2). 

The Brunswick-Altamaha deposit is presently owned by 
Union Camp Corp. (40 pet), the Jones family (40 pet), and 
the Brunswick Pulp and Paper Co. (20 pet), which did the 
drilling of the deposit in 1960. The Cumberland Island 
deposit is primarily owned by the U.S. Department of the 
Interior's National Park Service (86 pet). The remaining 14 
pet is privately owned. The deposit was drilled out in the 
1950's, and very little has been done since then. 

The Folkston deposit, not included in the present study, 
was a significant producing titanium mine in Georgia (near 
the Florida border along the coast) throughout the 1960's 
and into the 1970's. Humphreys Mining Co. ceased 
operations there in 1974 because of the exhaustion of 
reserves. 

The only deposit in North Carolina evaluated for this 
study is NL Industries' property located near the east coast 
of the State, west of the town of Aurora. The deposit 
consists of heavy-mineral sands occurring primarily in 
unconsolidated placer beach sands of Pleistocene to Recent 
age. The sand occurs in narrow strips within a zone 19 km 
long and 0.85 km wide. The average thickness of the ore 
zone is 6 m, covered by approximately 1 m of overburden. 
Although the heavy-mineral sands in this deposit are 
un weathered, poorly sorted, and contain various impurities 
(making processing and recovery more difficult), scattered 
pockets may contain as much as 15 pet heavy minerals. The 
average heavy-mineral content is 3 pet. Ilmenite is the 
primary titanium mineral present. Small amounts of zircon 
and rutile, although insufficient to recover, are also present. 
Reserves at this deposit have been reported to be 35 million 
mt of beach sand, or approximately 400,000 mt of contained 
Ti02 (30). Various drilling programs defined this deposit in 
the 1950's, 1960's, and 1970's. This deposit has never been 
developed. 

Two deposits in Virginia were included in the evalua- 
tion, both associated with ferrodiorites of the Roseland 



District. These deposits, the B. F. Camden Anomaly and 
the Piney River deposit, are located in Amherst County in 
the center of the State. Ilmenite is the major ore mineral at 
these deposits and is found either at the base of ferrodiorite 
sheets or with apatite in dikehke masses also known as 
nelsonite (31). The nelsonite deposits are higher grade but 
limited in size. Some rutile also exists in the district but is 
not significant in the two deposits studied. The B. F. 
Camden Anomaly ore body is just over 2 km in length and 
approximately 200 m wide. The ore zone averages 20 m thick 
under approximately 1 m of overburden. At the Piney River 
deposit, the ore body is nearly 900 m long, extending to a 
depth of over 120 m. Ilmenite grades average nearly 20 pet 
(10 pet Ti02) at both these deposits, with demonstrated 
resources ranging from 20 to 30 million mt of ore (or 1 to 3 
million mt contained Ti02). 

Ilmenite has been mined in New Jersey since the early 
1960s. Glidden Industries operated the Lakehurst operation 
until it was closed in 1973; and the Manchester Mine, which 
is included in this evaluation, was operated by Asarco from 
1973 until it was closed in 1981 for economic reasons. Even 
though this operation is presently closed and Asarco has no 
intention of ever returning (all equipment and structures are 
being dismantled and sold), it was included in this evaluation 
since some resources remain. It was evaluated from the 
standpoint of a nonproducing deposit that would need 
complete development to start production. Asarco retained 
the mineral rights to the deposit. 

The Manchester deposit is located in northern Ocean 
County, NJ, southwest of the town of Lakehurst. The ore is 
found in the Cohansey Sand formation, of late Miocene or 
Pliocene age. The formation is a medium-grained poorly 
sorted quartz sandstone approximately 30 m thick. It lies 
unconformably on the Kirkwood Formation of Miocene age. 
The Cohansey, in the central part of the State, is ilmenite 
rich and has been the only formation mined, although heavy 
minerals are present above and below it. Resources for the 
Manchester Mine were originally estimated to be on the 
order of 163 million mt at 1.95 pet Ti02 (32). Once production 
through January 1981 is subtracted (approximate time of 
shutdown), approximately 100 million mt of ore (2 million mt 
contained Ti02) remain. 

The entire district, including both the Manchester 
deposit and the old Lakehurst Mine, had been estimated by 
Markewiez in 1969 to contain as much 11.3 million mt of 
contained Ti02 resources (33). Subtracting production to 
date, the district may contain as much as 10 million mt of 
contained Ti02 (^)- These estimated resources should 
probably be considered identified since they may include 
both demonstrated and inferred resources. The heavy- 
mineral content at these deposits ranges from 3 to 15 pet, 
averaging 4 to 5 pet (28). Altered ilmenite makes up 85 to 90 
pet of the heavy minerals (33). 

The only deposit in New York included in this 
evaluation is the Maelntyre Development, located near 
Tahav^Tis, in Essex County. The Maelntyre Development is 
within the Precambrian Sanford Lake magnetite district in 
the midst of the Adirondack Mountains. Although titanifer- 
ous magnetite deposits have been known to exist in the 
Adirondacks since the 1800's, no significant development 
occurred until National Lead Co. (now NL Industries) 
began developing the Sanford Hill ore body in the early 
1940's. Iron (from magnetite) and titanium (from ilmenite) 
have been produced from this region since then, moving to 
the south (the South Extension) in the 1960's. As of the end 
of 1982, the ilmenite concentrates have been stockpiled, 
since NL's pigment plant in Sayreville, NJ, the main 



33 



consumer of Maclntyre's ilmenite, has closed because of 
economic conditions. 

Anorthositic ore, occurring as massive lenses, and 
gabbroic ore, occurring as oxide-enriched bands, are both 
found at the South extension, where mining presently 
exists. The Sanford Lake district contains four major ore 
bodies: the Sanford Hill-South Extension, the upper works 
(also called Calamity-Mill Pond), Mt. Adams, and Cheney 
Pond, where mining activities would probably occur next. 
Demonstrated resources, used in this evaluation, include the 
Sanford Hill-South Extension (nearly mined out) and 
Cheney Pond. It has been reported that total resources for 
the entire district are 8.6 million mt of contained Ti02 (2). 
The Ti02 grade ranges from 10 to 30 pet (28) throughout the 
district although it is closer to 15 to 20 pet at the South 
Extension and Cheney Pond. Small amounts of vanadium 
(0.5 pet V2O5) exist in the magnetite phase throughout the 
district but are not recovered. Iron grades range from 15 to 
30 pet at the South Extension and Cheney Pond. 

Two deposits in Tennessee were included in the 
evaluation, the Oak Grove deposit and the Sihca Mine. Both 
deposits occur in the Cretaceous McNairy Sand formation at 
the eastern edge of the Mississippi River Embayment. The 
deposits, located in northwestern Tennessee, are secondary, 
ancient marine beach sands. The Silica Mine presently 
produces only a quartz sand product. Altered ilmenite and 
rutile are the major heavy minerals at both deposits, with 
zircon, leucoxene, staurolite, kyanite, tourmaline, and 
monazite also potentially recoverable. Resources for this 
region have not been published for specific deposits but are 
estimated by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of 
Mines to be 8.4 milhon mt contained Ti02 from the ilmenite 
and 1.3 million mt contained TiOg from the rutile (2). This 
estimated resource is at the identified level and contains 
more tonnage than at Oak Grove and the Silica Mine. These 
estimates seem to include tonnage owned by Kerr-McGee 
and in Natchez Trace, which was not included in this 
evaluation because of a lack of information. 

Oak Grove is owned by the Ethyl Corp. and is located in 
Henry County. The ore body is over 20 km long and 8 km 
wide, and approximately 12 m thick with 12 m of 
overburden. Although the deposit was explored in the early 
1970's, no development has ever occurred. 

Sihca sand is produced by the Tennessee Silica Sand Co. 
(a subsidiary of Jesse S. Morie and Sons, Inc.) at the Sihca 
Mine in Benton County. This deposit, about 400 ha in 
extent, and with sand outcropping in many places, has a 
minable ore thickness of about 4 m. The mine has been in 
production for more than 40 yr and has only recently been 
acquired by its present owners. 

There are three known significant titanium deposits in 
Hot Spring County, AR; only the Magnet Cove deposit, just 
north of the city of Hot Springs, was included in this 
analysis. The other two, both of which have never produced, 
are the Christy deposit and the Hardy-Walsh deposit. The 
Magnet Cove deposit produced about 5,000 mt of rutile 
concentrate from 1932 to 1944. The Magnet Cove deposit has 
been owned by various companies and is now held in fee by 
numerous private owners. 

These deposits in northern Hot Springs County are 
part of a complex mixture of alkahc igneous rocks (the throat 
of an ancient volcano). Cretaceous in age, intruding into 
folded sedimentary and metamorphic rocks (28). Rutile and 
brookite are the most significant titanium minerals present. 

In situ resources of ore remaining at the Magnet Cove 
deposit have been reported to be just over 7 million mt at 2.6 
pet TiOg (or nearly 200,000 mt of contained TiOa) (3Jt). Small 



amounts of columbium are also present but not in quantities 
sufficient for recovery. Idealized dimensions of this ore body 
are 580 m in length and 151 m in width. Maximum pit depth 
is presently 9 m, with little or no overburden, and the ore 
body has been drilled to depths of at least 41 m. The Christy 
deposit was drilled by the Bureau in 1948 and, although no 
quantification of resources was made, it has been stated that 
the ore body contains 5.8 pet Ti02 (35). 

An alluvial river sand deposit of Quaternary age in 
southwestern Oklahoma (Kiowa and Tillman Counties) was 
included in this evaluation. The Otter Creek Valley deposit, 
located along the southwest flank of the Wichita Mountains, 

3.5 km west of the town of Snyder, is a portion of the valley 
fill within the Otter Creek drainage system. These 
ilmenite-bearing black sands, first recognized by the 
Oklahoma Geological Survey in the early 1950's, were 
extensively investigated by the Bureau in the late 1950's. 
There has never been any development at this deposit and 
no further studies since the Bureau's 1960 report (36). 

The Otter Creek Valley deposit is approximately 20 km 
long and 2 km wide. The thickness of the deposit averages 

7.6 m (a basal sand-elay component), while the overburden 
averages 5.9 m thick (a silt-clay alluvium). 

The indicated potential resource for the Otter Creek 
Valley deposit was estimated to be approximately 340 
million mt of alluvial material containing 1.24 pet Ti02 (or 
4.2 million mt of contained TiOg) (36). The Ti02 is in the form 
of ilmenite. Small amounts of Columbian are also present but 
not in sufficient quantities for recovery. The resource 
estimated by the Bureau in 1960 includes the northern 
portion of the deposit, flooded by a reservoir. It is estimated 
that of the 340 million mt, only 317 milHon mt with a grade of 
1.23 pet Ti02 (or 3.9 million mt of contained TiOg) would be 
available for mining. The deposit has no clear overall owner, 
since it is covered by a collection of numerous individual 
landholders who may or may not own the mineral rights. 

The Powerhorn titanium deposit, owned by Buttes Gas 
and Oil Co. , was the only deposit in Colorado evaluated for 
this study. It is 1-^eated 40 km southwest of the town of 
Gunnison, in the southwestern part of the State of Colorado. 
The deposit is an alkalie igneous stock and carbonatite, which 
intruded a Precambrian host rock, consisting of gi-anites and 
other metamorphic rocks, approximately 550 million yr ago 
(Cambrian period). The carbonatite is surrounded by 
pyroxenite, which, primarily in northeastern half of the 
complex, contains the titanium-bearing mineral perovs- 
kite, together with magnetite. The perovskite and 
magnetite occur as both irregular lenshke bodies several 
feet long and an accessory minerals in the pyroxenite. The 
ore body has been studied and drilled out at various times 
from the 1950's to the late 1970's. Holes drilled to a depth of 
180 m had not determined the lower hmits of mineralization. 
The deposit is 4 km long and 0.6 km wide. 

Resources for the Powderhorn deposit were pubhshed 
in a 1976 Wall Street Journal article as 380 milhon mt 
averaging 12 pet Ti02. This was classified as 88 million mt 
measured, 158 milhon mt indicated, and 134 million mt 
inferred (37). Although the ore body is reported to be 12 pet 
Ti02 in total, much of this titanium is mineralogieally 
"locked up" in augite, magnetite, mica, and even leucoxene. 
The major recoverable titanium mineral, perovskite, con- 
tains the only potentially recoverable Ti02 from the ore 
body. It has been estimated that recoverable perovskite is 
approximately 8 pet of the ore body and that the perovskite 
contains only about 50 pet Ti02. Therefore, only 4 pet Ti02 
would be reahzed, resulting in 9.8 milhon mt contained Ti02 
at the demonstrated level and an additional 5.9 million mt 



34 



contained Ti09 at the inferred level. Columbium and rare 
earths are also present in this deposit; the rare earths are 
considered to be of commercial significance. Little has been 
done with this deposit since Butte's drilling program in 1976. 

The Iron Mountain titaniferous magnetite deposits, 
located in the Laramie Range, were included in this 
evaluation. The deposits are in southeastern Wyoming, 
approximately 76 km northeast of Laramie. The rocks in this 
region are predominantly a metamorphic Precambrian 
complex intruded by anorthosites and associated igneous 
rocks, which were subsequently intruded by dikes of granite 
and magnetite-ilmenite (28). The main Iron Mountain dike 
contains the major ore deposits occurring as either massive 
megnetite-ilmenite or as disseminated magnetite-ilmenite. 
In either case, ore is composed of extremely fine inter- 
growths of magnetite and ilmenite and occurs as irregular 
masses or as streaks in the central areas of the anorthosite. 
Since most of the ilmenite is combined with the magnetite, 
these intergrow^ths would have to be upgraded using a 
smelting process similar to that used by QIT in Sorel. 

Resources for the high-grade massive ore at Iron 
Mountain have been estimated to be 30 miUion mt with an 
average grade of 45 pet Fe and 20 pet Ti02. The lower grade 
disseminated ore has been estimated to be 148 million mt 
with an average grade of 20 pet Fe and 9 pet Ti02. Much of 
this material was classified as inferred. The resource value 
used for this evaluation was a portion of the high-grade 
massive ore (38). 

The Iron Mountain deposits were drilled and evaluated 
in the 1950's and 1960's. They are owned by Rocky Mountain 
Energy Co., a subsidiary of Union Pacific (64 pet), and by 
Anaconda, a subsidiary of ARCO (35 pet). The remaining 1 
pet is controlled by local ranchers. The deposit has never 
been developed. 

The evaluation also included a clay-producing operation 
in central California near the town of lone. The waste 
material found in the tailings pond from this mine (called the 
lone pit and mill) contains titanium, in the form of altered 
ilmenite, and zircon. The commercially important clay, sand, 
and lignite deposits of this region are found in the Tertiary 
lone Formation. The waste material, which could be 
reprocessed for the heavy minerals, contains just over 1 pet 
zircon (ZrOg) and 20 pet ilmenite (10 pet TiOg) (39). No 
published resources exist. The mine is owned by North 
American Refractories Co. and has been operating since 
1954. 

Additional United States Resources 

The following section briefly describes those U.S. 
deposits not included in this evaluation. Most of these were 
too small to include, or their resource is not presently 
extractable vdth today's technology, or the resource was not 
at the demonstrated level. Unless otherwise noted, the 
resource level was not stated in the literature. Most of the 
resource values that were given in the literature are 
probably inferred estimates. 

Florida phosphate deposits contain various heavy 
minerals, including rutile, ilmenite, zircon, and monazite, 
found in the Phocene Bone Valley Formation UO). The 
Bureau has studied the potential for recovering these heavy 
minerals from the flotation circuits of central Florida 
phosphate mines. Although commercial-grade concentrates 
were produced, the heavy-mineral recoveries were ex- 
tremely low ovdng principally to the fineness of grain size 
Ul). Resources have been estimated to be at least 200,000 
mt TiOg (2). 



The Bureau has also investigated the potential for 
recovering heavy minerals from sand and gravel operations 
in Alabama. The most significant heavy minerals found in 
these Cretaceous sand operations were ilmenite (an altered 
form), rutile, zircon, kyanite, and monazite. The study found 
that the occurrence of heavy minerals in these operations is 
widespread U2). Other Bureau studies have investigated 
the potential recovery of rutile as well as various heavy 
minerals from sand and gravel operations throughout the 
southeastern United States (particularly Alabama, Georgia, 
North Carolina, and South (Ilarohna) U3-4-4-). The resource 
could be substantial based on the number of sand and gravel 
operations in that region and, in fact, has been estimated to 
be as much as 400,000 mt of contained Ti02 from Alabama 
and Georgia operations (2). 

The Bureau has also investigated the potential to 
recover byproduct heavy minerals from sand and gravel 
operations in Oregon and Washington U5) and in central and 
southern California U6). Resources in these regions were 
not estimated, with the exception of lone. 

Various old beach sand deposits have been investigated 
in South Carolina. One source estimates identified resources 
of 3.8 million mt of ilmenite and 1.0 million mt of rutile 
(together equahng approximately 3.0 million mt of contained 
TiOz) from 11 of these deposits U7, p. 7). The Charleston 
area deposits contain an additional resource, containing 2 
miUion mt of heavy minerals U8, p. 14). 

The Natchez Trace area of Tennessee, in Henderson 
County, is reported to have over 7 million mt of heavy 
minerals containing significant quantities of rutile (250,000 
mt) and ilmenite (4.1 million mt) as well as various other 
heavy minerals U9, p. 17; 50, p. 24). There could be as much 
as 2.5 million mt of contained Ti02. 

Iknenite resources on the western side of Ship Island, 
MS, have been reported to be on the order of 200,000 mt 
(100,000 mt contained TiOg) (51, p. 23). Ship Island is a 
modem barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico. 

An ilmenite mine in Caldwell County, NC, called the 
Yadkin Valley deposit, produced high-gi-ade ilmenite from. 
1942 to 1952. The deposit consists of small masses of ilmenite 
in a quartzite and mica schist. The Ti02 grade (49 to 52 pet) 
has been considered unusually high for a rock-type ilmenite 
(28). Remaining resources have been estimated to be 
200,000 mt of contained TiOa (2). 

The Willis Mountain Mine, a producing kyanite mine in 
Virginia, is reported to have 300,000 mt of contained Ti02 
resources. This value is based on the rutile content of 
identified kyanite resources (2). 

In the serpentinite belt of Harford County, MD, initile 
is found in significant quantities in the ultramafic chlorite 
rock. Although averaging approximately 1 pet rutile, some 
pockets contain as much as 16 pet (52). Resources for this 
deposit have been estimated to be 700,000 mt of contained 
Ti02 at the identified level (2). 

The Port Leyden heavy-mineral deposit, at the edge of 
the Adirondack Mountains in New York, contains significant 
quantities of low-gi-ade ilmenite and zircon resources. The 
ilmenite sands are found in Pleistocene glacial deposits. 
Although the grade of the Ti02 in the ilmenite is only 25 pet, 
there is a reported 31 million mt of ilmenite at this deposit 
(7.8 milhon mt of contained Ti02). Inferred resources have 
been estimated to be on the order of 2.4 billion mt of sand 
with an ilmenite grade of 1.5 pet. Zircon and small quantities 
of rutile also are present at this deposit (53). Technology to 
recover this ilmenite resource is questionable, and there- 
fore, this large resource has never been considered for 
development. Resources discusssed here are only for the 



35 



Port Leyden Quadrangle. Possibly more tonnage exists 
outside that area. 

The Duluth Gabbro Complex of mafic igneous rocks in 
Minnesota has recently been studied to determine various 
byproduct recoveries. Of interest is the large quantity of 
ilmenite that could potentially be recovered. It was 
estimated that over 500,000 mt/yr ilmenite with a grade of 
50 pet TiOg could become available from the copper-nickel 
tailings (54). Resources for the complex, at the identified 
level, have been estimated at 10 million mt of contained Ti02 
(2). 

Various rare earths were mined from Idaho alluvial 
placer deposits in the 1950's. Ilmenite does exist at these 
deposits and could be recovered, although the grade is very 
low. These resources would become significant only if 
mining for rare earths ever reoccurred. 

Some years ago, the Bureau studied the titaniferous 
Cretaceous shoreline sandstones of Utah, Wyoming, New 
Mexico, and Colorado. In that reconnaissance, nearly 28 
million mt of sandstone containing an average of 7 pet Ti02, 
equivalent to 2 million mt contained Ti02, was quantified 
(55, p. 8). The titanium minerals present were ilmenite and 
altered ilmenite. Some zircon and monazite were also found 
to be present in these deposits. The resource estimate was 
based on field sampling and dimensional calculations, and 
therefore the resource level should not be considered any 
greater than inferred. Technology to recover these re- 
sources is unproven. 

A rutile deposit was discovered in 1968 in a Precam- 
brian gneiss near Evergreen, CO. Average rutile grade was 
2. 1 pet in an indicated resource estimated to be 115,000 mt of 
rutile, with additional inferred resources of 47,000 mt rutile 
for every 30 m in depth below the 73 m measured. Although 
this resource was determined to be recoverable, it was felt 
that it would never be mined owing to both environmental 
and economic factors (56). 

Deposits similar to the type found in Evergreen, CO, 
are also found in Farmville District, VA, Kings Mountain 
District, NC and SC, Graves Mountain, GA, White 
Mountain, CA, Yuma County, AZ, and Santa Cruz County, 
AZ (56). 

Preliminary studies have been made by both the U. S. 
Geology Survey and the Bureau to determine the potential 
for recovering rutile from porphyry coper tailings in Arizona 
and Utah. The Geological Survey work has estimated that 8 
million mt of recoverable rutile may exist at just three 
deposits (Bagdad and San Manuel, AZ, and Bingham, UT) 
(57, p. 2245). The Bureau work has centered on the 
technology to recover these very large resources of rutile 
(58). Although the tests proved that the rutile could be 
partially recovered from these tailings, additional research 
will be needed before these could be considered a 
commercial source. 

Clay deposits near Spokane, WA (400,000 mt contained 
Ti02) (2), and bauxite deposits near Salem, OR (1.8 million 
mt contained Ti02) (2), both contain presently unrecover- 
able ilmenite. 

An ilmenite deposit in the San Gabriel Mountains of 
California contains possibly as much as 4.8 million mt of Ti02 
(2). The ilmenite, found in an nnorthosite, may contain 45 pet 
Ti02 (28), which could be upgraded by smelting. 

Recent studies by the Geological Survey have outlined 
areas along the U.S. Atlantic Continental Shelf where heavy 
minerals may be present (59). Although very little work has 
been done on these offshore deposits, the potential appears 
to be significant. Large tonnages of ilmenite have been 
estimated to be present offshore south of New York City, 



in the inner New York Bight. This, too, is from recent work 
and remains under investigation (60). 

Canada 

The Allard Lake deposit in Canada is one of the most 
important titanium deposits in the world (fig. A-1). It occurs 
as massive dykes, sills, lenses, or irregular bodies associated 
with a local anorthositic intrusion within this Precambrian 
shield area. Ilmenite and hematite are the primary economic 
minerals. The deposit consists of three primary ore bodies: 
the Min ore body, (the most important), the Northwest ore 
body, and the Cliff ore body. In total, the deposit is 
approximately 1 km long by 1 km wide. The open pit mine 
currently exploits approximately one-half of that area. 
Demonstrated resources for the three ore bodies at Allard 
Lake plus the Grader, Springer, and Mills ore bodies have 
been estimated, as of 1980, at 218 million mt at 31 pet Ti02 
(68 million mt contained TiOg) and 36 pet Fe (61). 

Although the Allard Lake deposits were explored 
throughout the 1940s, production did not begin until 1950. 
The mine was originally owned by Quebec Iron and 
Titanium Corp. (a company formed by Kennecott Copper 
Corp. and the New Jersey Zinc Co.). It is now owned by 
QIT-Fer et Titane Inc. (which is owned by Standard Oil Co. 
of Ohio). 

The Puyjalon Lake and Magpie Mountain deposits, 
located near the Allard Lake deposits, were not included in 
this evaluation primarily because of the lack of information 
and the low grade of the ore. These two deposits are also 
asociated with the local anorthosites and, as with Allard 
Lake, are iron-titanium deposits. The Puyjalon Lake deposit 
has been reported to contain almost 210 million mt of ore 
with 11 pet Ti02 and 18 pet Fe, while the Magpie Mountain 
deposit was estimated to contain 1 billion mt of ore with 11 
pet Ti02 and 43 pet Fe, both at the indicated level (62, p. 57). 

The Pin-Rouge Lake deposit in Quebec was included in 
the evaluation (fig. A-1). As with the Allard Lake deposits, 
the deposit at Pin-Rouge Lake is also associated with an 
anorthositic core. The titanium mineralization is primarily 
ilmenite and is associated predominantly with the gabbros 
that rim the anorthosites. Hematite is also widespread and 
is associated with the ilmenite as well as some magnetite. 
The evaluation treated this deposit like the Allard Lake 
deposit in that a titanium slag and a pig iron byproduct 
would be produced. 

The ore body at Pin-Rouge Lake was thoroughly 
explored in the 1950's by Laurentian Mines Ltd. and later, 
in the 1970's, by the Canadian Nickel Co. Ltd. (CANICO). 
Presently, Laurentian Mines Ltd. controls the 34 un- 
patended claims. 

Pin-Rouge Lake is located approximately 50 km 
northwest of Montreal. The ore body, consisting of a main 
zone and its northern extension, contains numerous massive 
steep dipping lenses of ilmenite-hematite. Both zones are 
approximately 1.5 km in length, with widths ranging from 
20 to 50 m. Published demonstrated resources for the 
Pin-Rouge Lake ore body are approximately 15 million mt 
averaging 20 pet Ti02 and 27.6 pet Fe to a depth of 69 m (63). 
This is the equivalent of approximately 3.0 million mt 
contained Ti02. Values used in this evaluation were 
somewhat higher based en unpublished sources. 

The Athabasca Tar San('? of Canada were not included 
in this evaluation. This deposit, located in Alberta, is an oil 
sand, often termed a "tar sand," deposit that contains 
approximately 1 pet heavy minerals, of which titanium and 
zirconium minerals are the most notable (6i). Various 



Canadian companies such as Syncrude Canada, Great 
Canadian Oil Sands, and Canadian Titanium Pigments are 
investigating the feasibility of recovering these minerals 
from the tar sands {65). Total resources for this deposit have 
not been quantified. 

Mexico 

A titaniferous deposit, located at Pluma Hidalgo, 
Oaxaca, Mexico, was not included in this study. The 
titanium minerals present in this deposit are rutile and 
ilmenite. The deposit is similar in nature to those Virginia 
deposits included in the study and discussed earlier. 



SOUTH AMERICA 

Titanium resources in Brazil (fig. A-2) are found 
primarily in five mines and deposits, all. of which were 
included in this analysis. Three of the deposits (Catalao, 
Bananeira, and Tapira) are proposed anatase operations, 
while the other two (Camaratuba and Campo Alegre de 
Lourdes) are ilmenite deposits. 

Of the five mines and deposits, Camaratuba is the only 
one producing as of January 1984. Owned by Titanio do 
Brasil (TIBRAS) and operated by Rutilo e Ilmenite do 
Brasil S.A. (RIB), this operation began production some- 
time in late 1982 or early 1983 (66) producing an ilmenite 
concentrate and rutile and zircon byproduct concentrates. 
Camaratuba is located along the Grajua beach in the 
municipality of Mataraca between the States of Paraiba and 








LEGEND 


•south 

AMERIC 


Area of 
map 

A 


State boundary 

® Capital 

• City or town 

* Mines and deposits 

400 800 

1 1 , t 



Scale, km 
Figure A-2.— Location of titanium mines and titanlum-bearing 
deposits of Brazil. 



Rio Grande do Norte. It is about 80 km south of the city of 
Natal. Exploration of the beach sand deposits in this region 
was undertaken by RIB in the late 1970's, with leases 
approved by the state in 1978. Construction of facilities 
preceeded until 1982 when startup was scheduled. 

Camaratuba, a conventional secondary bei.ch sand 
deposit of Recent age is a series of elevated sand dunes that 
he between the ocean and an ancient sea chff. The dunes 
stretch in a continuous line parallel to the shoreline, 
extending in a north-northwest by south-southeast direction 
for approximately 20 km. The dunes average 25 m high, and 
those that have been explored cover an area of approximate- ' 
ly 10 ha. The total heavy mineral content of the sand is 5 to 6 
pet, containing ilmenite, zircon, rutile, along with other, less 
important heavy minerals such as monazite, xenotime, 
garnet, and tourmaline. 

The Campo Alegre de Lourdes deposit, located in the 
north-central part of the State of Bahia, 100 km northwest of 
Salvador, is the only other Brazilian ilmenite deposit 
included in this study. There are actually 10 individual 
deposits in that area grouped together for the purpose of 
this analysis. These deposits are associated with a regional 
intrusive gabbro within the Precambrian Brazilian shield, 
found in a small mountain range called Serra Dois Irmaos. 
The 10 deposits are Anfilofio, Branco, Carlata, Chico Velho, 
Lazan I, Lazan II, Redondo, Siyio, Testa Branca, and 
Tuicuiu (66-67). 

These deposits are owned by Cia. Bahiana de Pesquisa 
Metais (CBPM), a state-owned company (70 pet), and 
Caraiba Metais S. A. (30 pet). The deposits were explored in 
the mid- to late 1970's, but no development ever occurred or 
was planned. It was assumed, based on the type of ore and 
the investigations made by CBPM, that the product from 
these deposits would be a titanium slag. 

The deposits at Campo Alegre de Lourdes occur in a 
series of 10 north-south-oriented hills covering a length of 11 
km, averaging 2.5 km wide. The resources are composed of a 
gabbro intrusive in the schist country rock. Two distinct 
zones are found at these deposits: the nonoxidized and the 
oxidized. Even though the nonoxidized rocks contain 
mineralization such as titaniferous magnetite, ilmenite, and 
other accessory minerals (rutile and various sulfides), the 
oxidized rocks contain the exploitable resources. In the 
oxidized rocks, ilmenite and leucoxene are the most 
prominent titanium minerals, averaging 20 pet Ti02 in the 
ore (67). The ore zone averages 100 m wide and 1,000 m long 
(67). Measured and indicated resources at Campo Alegre de 
Lourdes have been reported to be 100 million mt of ore; the 
inferred resource could be as much as 500 miUion mt of ore 
(68). 

The three anatase deposits included in the study are 
located in south-central Brazil. These deposits are unique in 
that the major titanium mineral is anatase, rather than 
rutile or ilmenite. Anatase has never been produced on a 
commercial scale, although significant testing has occurred 
at the pilot plant stage. There still remains some uncertainty 
in producing an untested product such as anatase. 

The largest of the three anatase deposits is the Tapira 
mine in the State of Minas Gerais. It is approximately 400 
km west of Belo Horizonte in a region already being mined 
for phosphate. The mine, which is in the development stages 
preparing for production, is owned by Cia. Vale do Rio Doce 
(CVRD). Most recent accounts show that the pilot plant 
work at this deposit is now completed and CVRD is 
constructing a plant that will produce a 90-pct-TiO2 
concentrate (69), which is anticipated to feed a chloride plant 
to be built in the city of Uberaba (State of Minas Gerais). 



37 



The Tapira deposit occurs in a large alkaline pipe (6.4 
km in diam). Titanium ore is found in residual deposits 
overlying phosphate ore already being mined by Fertili- 
zantes Fosfatados S.A. (FOSFERTIL). The alkaline pipe, 
or diatreme, is of late Cretaceous age, having intruded into 
Precambrian metasediments of the Canastra Group. The ore 
contains as much as 22.4 pet TiOg (at a 15-pct-Ti02 cutoff), 
with resources reported to be approximately 190 million mt 
(70, p. 46). Resources used for this study were larger, using 
a lower cutoff grade. Demonstrated resources have been 
reported to be as large as 1.6 billion mt with more than 10 
pet TiOz (71). 

The Bananeira deposit, also in the State of Minas Gerais 
(Municipality of Patroeinio), is an anatase deposit with 
characteristics very similar to those of Tapira. The 
Bananeira deposit is actually composed of three deposits: 
Bananeira, Salitre II, and Sierra Negra. These deposits are 
located approximately 400 km west of Belo Horizonte, just 
north of the Tapira Mine. Bananeira is owned by Mineracao 
Itaqui, Ltd., which is owned by Cia. Brasileira de Mineracao 
e Metalurgia (CBMM). Ore from this deposit is being tested 
in a pilot plant. 

The resources at Bananeira are in rock almost identical 
in age and characteristics to rock at Tapira. Resources have 
been reported to be 150 million mt averaging 22.4 pet Ti02, 
using a IS-pct-TiOg cutoff (70). 

The third anatase deposit evaluated is the Catalao 
deposit (also called Catalao-Ouvidor), located in the south- 
ern part of the State of Goias, approximately 350 km south 
of Brasiha. The owners of this deposit, Metais de Goias S. A. 
(METAGO) and Goias Fertilizantes S. A. (GOIASFERTIL) 
(a phosphate producer) have plans to do pilot plant studies 
on the ore at Catalao, although, as of this writing, no 
progress has been made. 

The Catalao deposit is located just to the northwest of 
the Tapira and Bananeira deposits, and its geological 
characteristics are nearly the same. Resource data for this 
deposit are not available, although it is fair to assume that 
Ti02 grades are very similar to those at Tapira and 
Bananeira. 

Demonstrated resources used in this study for the three 
anatase deposits in Brazil total nearly 300 million mt of ore 
(over 75 million mt contained Ti02). Inferred resources are 
an additional 145 million mt of ore (containing approximately 
37 million mt TiOg). 



EUROPE 

Finland and Norway have the two most important 
producing titanium mines in Europe at Otanmaki and 
Tellnes, respectively. Italy's Piampaludo deposit, in the 
feasibility planning stage, has a large potential. Titanium 
resources are found in Portugal and Spain, although they 
are small and rather insignificant. Romania and the 
U.S.S.R. also produce titanium products. 

Finland and Norway 

The Precambrian areas of the Baltic Shield characterize 
the titanium deposits of Finland and Norway. Deposits 
appear to belong to one main genetic type, being generally 
considered as differentiates from the crystalhzation of basic 
magmas. These deposits almost invariably show an associa- 
tion with provinces, complexes, or single bodies of mafic, 
less often ultramafie, igneous rocks in which anorthosites, 
gabbros, norites, and/or their metamorphie deriv- 



atives predominate. The two most important deposits are 
Otanmaki in Finland and Tellnes in Norway (72, p. 22; 73). 
Figures A-3 and A-4 show the locations of these deposits. 
The Otanmaki operation is Finland's only titanium 
producer. It is located 500 km north of Helsinki. The 
vanadium-bearing magnetite-ilmenite ore deposit is located 
on the northern flank of a large layered Precambrian 
hornblende gabbro-anorthosite intrusive. Amphibolite is the 
predominant rock type. The ore itself is the contact zone 
between the gabbros and anorthosites, and is made up of 
heterogenous anorthosites, gabbros, metagabbros, and 
orthoamphibolite. This zone is about 2.5 km long and 500 m 
wide and can be traced to a depth of 800 m. Several types of 





A 


Otanmaki * 


^\ 


/'^ 


V 


\ 




1 


)' ^ 




) 


\ 


r 


\ 


FINLAND 


) 


-^r-^ 





LEGEND 

Provinical boundary 

9 Capital 

• City or town 

* Mine 



Figure A-3.— Location of Finland's Otanmalti Mine. 





W^nrC^ 


\ :^m-.^ .4S W E D E N 




Yt, V; 


VjtTellnesV / 


^ i^ 


Flekkefjord* "-i/ 


^ 






LEGEND 




International boundary 


— 


-County boundary 


® 


Capital 


• 


City or town 


* 


Mine 




1 


100 200 



Scale, km 
Figure A-4.— Location of Norway's Tellnes Mine. 



trate at approximately 45 pet Ti02, 35 pet FeO, and 12 pet 
Fe203; magnetite eoncentrate at 64.5 pet Fe, and 3.5 pet 
Ti02; and a sulfide eoncentrate at 2.5 pet Cu, 4.5 pet Ni, and 
0.7 pet Co (79-83). A potential slag operation in Norway was 
not included or discussed in this study because of a lack of 
information. 

Italy 

Italy's Piampaludo deposit could potentially be 
Europe's only natural rutile producer. The deposit is still 
undergoing feasibility studies. Piampaludo is located in 
northwest Italy (fig. A-5) in the province of Savona near the 
town of Piampaludo, about 13 km from the coast, 55 km (by 
road) from the nearest coastal cities of Genoa and Savona. 
The deposit consists of a low-grade eclogite. Eelogites are 
metamorphic rocks formed at extremely high temperatures 
and pressures during regional metamorphism. A massive 
and highly fractured ore body, the deposit is 1.8 km long by 
500 m wide, covering 90 ha. Rutile, as an accessory mineral 
in eelogites, is disseminated throughout the entire ore body 
at approximately 3 to 5 pet. Industrial-grade garnet, at 25 to 
30 pet of the deposit, is also recoverable. Diamond drilling 
has proven the existence of 150 million mt of ore at 6 pet 



ore are present: impregnation ores (low grade, less than 20 
pet Fe) to massive ores (high grade, greater than 40 pet Fe). 
Individual ore bodies are lens shaped and range in size from 
2 to 20 m long and 5 to 30 m wide. Their long axis is oriented 
east to west; dips are near vertical to vertical, and they 
plunge from 45° to 60° to the west. Average grades are 39 
pet megnetite, 29 pet ilmenite (13.5 pet Ti02), and 1.5 pet 
pyrite. Vanadium does not occur as distinct vanadium 
minerals but is contained in the magnetite at 0.9 pet (0.275 
pet in the deposit). The deposit was discovered in 1938, by 
tracing titaniferous float material and by subsequent 
magnetic surveys. Exploratory drilling in 1939 delineated 
two ore bodies, Otanmaki and Vuorokas, approximately 3 
km to the east. Construction and development of the mine, 
mill, and support facilities begun in 1951; a small amount of 
ore was hoisted in 1953. Over the years, production has 
increased to over 1.0 miUion mt/yr. Between 1953 and 1955, 
only concentrates of iron, ilmenite and pyrite were 
produced. In 1956, the vanadium pentoxide concentrate was 
added. This is now the most valuable product of the 
operation {74--78). 

The Tellnes mine is located in southwestern Norway in 
the State of Rogaland, northwest of FlekkeQord. In the 
early 1950's, NL Industries' subsidiary Kronos Titan A/S 
realized that the accessible resources at its Storgangen Mine 
would soon be depleted. Exploration for other resources was 
initiated in 1954 using aeromagnetic surveying techniques, 
resulting in the discovery of the Tellnes ore body. Half of the 
ore body is under the waters of Tellnesvann (Tellnes Lake). 
The deposit is a large lens- or boat-shaped homogeneous 
ilmenite-norite intrusive in the Ana-Sira Anorthosite Massif 
of the Egersund Anorthosite Complex. It is a large complex 
covering 1,000 km^ of southwestern Norway. The deposit is 
2.7 km long and up to 450 m wide, covering 57 ha; 
mineralization was proven to a depth of 330 m. Diamond 
drilling indicated substantial ore resources of 200 to 300 
million mt at 18 pet Ti02 (39 pet ilmenite) and 23 pet Fe (2 
pet magnetite). Resources used for Tellnes in this study are 
substantially larger. Production at Tellnes began in 1960 at 
300,000 mt/yr and has increased to over 2.0 million mt. 
Three types of concentrates are produced: ilmenite concen- 



SWITZERLAND 




LEGEND 
International boundary 

• City or town 

* Deposit 



100 

J 



Scale, km 

Figure A-5.— Location of itaiy's Plampaiudo rutile deposit. 



39 



Ti02 (rutile plus ilmenite), with another possible 300 million 
mt at 5.8 pet Ti02. Mineraria Italiana S.p.A. Milan, the 
owners, are looking for a joint venture in order to begin 
development and production (8^-86). 

Romania 

Although no deposits from Romania were evaluated in 
this study, there exist three deposits worthy of discussion. 
All heavy-mineral deposits in Romania are owned and 
operated by the Federal Government, Ministry of Mines- 
Geology. 

The Chituc heavy-mineral deposit is located in the 
Dobrogea Province on the Black Sea coast. The mine was 
developed in the late 1970's and has been known to have 
produced at least at pilot plant scale. The plant produces an 
ilmenite concentrate along with some zircon and garnet. The 
ilmenite concentrate cannot be used for pigment production 
owing to its high nickel and chromite content. Resources at 
Chituc have been estimated to be approximately 200 million 
mt of ore grading 0.51 pet TiOg at the inferred resource 
level. 

The Tigveni Mine is located on the River Topolog in 
Arges Province. It appears to have been in production since 
the late 1970's. The deposit consists of several heavy- 
mineral-bearing formations of late Pliocene to early Pleis- 
tocene age. The mine produces primarily an ilmenite 
concentrate although it is possible that zircon is also 
recovered as a byproduct. Identified resources at this 
deposit have been estimated at 50 million mt of sand grading 
approximately 1.0 pet Ti02 from the ilmenite. 

The Glogova-Sisesti deposit is located on the banks of 
the River Motru on the boundary between Mehedinti and 
Gorj Provinces in southwest Romania. Exploration at this 
deposit occurred in the late 1970's although further 
development is not thought to have taken place. The deposit 
consists of three heavy-mineral-bearing formations of late 
Pliocene to early Pleistocene age, similar to the Tigveni 
deposit. It appears that ilmenite, rutile, zircon, and 
monazite could all be recovered. Resources have been 
estimated at 340 million mt of sand grading 0.75 pet TiOg at 
the inferred resource level. 

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics 

Significant production of titanium in the U.S.S.R. 
began after World War II. The ilmenite-magnetite deposits 
of the Urals were the early sources. Since 1960, the fossil 
placer deposits in the Ukraine have assumed greater 
importance. Ilmenite is ^Iso obtained from titanomagnetite 
deposits in the Kola Peninsula. Other significant deposits of 
titanium in the U.S.S.R. are located in the Azov Coast, 
Kasakhstan, Siberia, Transbaikalia, and the far eastern 
provinces. Titaniferous magnetite deposits in the Caucasus 
Mountains of Armenia, discovered in the early 1970's, are 
also considered important, as well as titanomagnetite sands 
on the Kuril Island, Iturup. 

By far the most important producing titanium deposits 
in the Soviet Union are the ancient heavy-mineral placers 
along the middle reaches of the River Dnieper in the 
Ukraine. Production is centered in two main areas near Kiev 
and Dnepropetrovsk, with the latter being more important. 
Heavy minerals at this deposit ocur in thin Cretaceous- 
Tertiary sediments overlying the northeast flank of the 
Ukrainian Massif. It appears that there are two types of 
commercial titanium placers in the Ukraine, ancient littoral 
marine placers and alluvial placers. Resources for these 



deposits are not known, although the ilmenite content of the 
sands averages 20 kg/m', and some of the sands contain as 
much as 2,000 kg/m'. 

Until the discovery and development of the Ukraine 
heavy-mineral placers, the titaniferous magnetite deposits 
of the Ural Mountains were the major source of ilmenite 
concentrates for the developing Soviet titanium industry. 
Iron ore mining is the main activity in the area, but a variety 
of other mineral concentrates are being produced including 
vanadium, titanium, and more recently, rare-earth miner- 
als. Of the nuf^erons mines in the Urals, it is believe:! th;;- 
three of these at present are important titanium ore 
deposits, although it is known that other deposits do contain 
significant resources of titanium minerals. The three 
deposits are Gusevogorsk, Kachkanar, and Kopansk (Kusa), 
which occur in titaniferous magnetites related to basic, 
ultrabasic intrusive rocks, and amphibolites outcropping 
along the main range of the Ural Mountains. Total titanium 
resources in the Urals have been estimated as 132 million mt 
of ore at the inferred level averaging 10 pet Ti02. 

Important titanium deposits are found in the alkalic 
rocks of the northwest part of the Soviet Union, in the Kola 
Peninsula, and in the Karelia Autonomous S.S.R. Ores are 
primarily of the titanomagnetie associations and the main 
mining and processing acvitities in the area are centered in 
the iron ore fonnations. Five or six deposits are producing 
iron oxide and vanadium pentoxide concentrates, but it 
appears that only the Afrikanda Mine is actually producing a 
titanium dioxide concentrate, from perovskite and titano- 
magnetite. Resources for Afrikanda are not known, 
although they have been estimated as "large"; Ti02 grades 
range from 8 to 18 pet. Other present and potential sources 
of titanium on the Kola Peninsula and in Karelia are the 
apatite-nepheline (aluminum) deposits at the Khibiny Massif 
and the titanomagnetites of the Pudozhgorsk, Tsaginsk, and 
Yelet Lake deposits. 

The most recent discovery of importance is the 
titaniferous magnetites of the Caucaeuses, found in 1973. 
Deposits are referred to as Kamakorskoye and Svoranzkoye 
in the region of Armenia. The area is considered very 
promising for further exploration. These deposits may be 
suitable for iron ore exploitation with ilmenite as a 
byproduct. Resources, estimated based on dimensions, are 
in the order of 100 million mt of ore grading from 0.7 to 3.7 
pet Ti02, primarily from ilmenite. 



ASIA 
India-Sri Lanka 

Beach sand deposits of India and Sri Lanka (fig. A-6) 
have been exploited for their monazite content since the 
early part of this century. Extraction of ilmenite and some 
rutile began in the 1920's in India and around 1961 in Sri 
Lanka. 

India's heavy-mineral sand deposits are located on the 
west coast and peninsula tip in the States of Kerala 
(formerly Travancore and Cochin) and on the east coast in 
Orissa. Orissa Mineral Sands Complex, also known as the 
Chatrapur Sand Deposit, is India's largest and newest 
deposit, located 300 km southwest of Calcutta and 22 km 
northeast of Berhampur. It is planned to come onstream in 
1985. The Chavara, or Quilon, sand deposit located on the 
west coast near the town of Quilon has produced ilmenite 
since 1932; monazite was probably recovered long before 
this. Peak production was reached in the 1940's as a result of 



_^ NORWAY 




^•x-Tellnes*^ 

Flekkefjord* 




LEGEND 

International boundary 

County boundary 

9 Capital 

• City or town 

■X- Mine 

100 200 
I I I 

Scale, km 
Figure A-4.— Location of Norway's Tellnes Mine. 



trate at approximately 45 pet Ti02, 35 pet FeO, and 12 pet 
Fe203; magnetite eoneentrate at 64.5 pet Fe, and 3.5 pet 
Ti02; and a sulfide eoneentrate at 2.5 pet Cu, 4.5 pet Ni, and 
0.7 pet Co {79-83). A potential slag operation in Norway was 
not ineluded or diseussed in this study beeause of a lack of 
information. 

Italy 

Italy's Piampaludo deposit eould potentially be 
Europe's only natural rutile producer. The deposit is still 
undergoing feasibility studies. Piampaludo is located in 
northwest Italy (fig. A-5) in the province of Savona near the 
town of Piampaludo, about 13 km from the coast, 55 km (by 
road) from the nearest coastal cities of Genoa and Savona. 
The deposit consists of a low-grade eelogite. Eelogites are 
metamorphie rocks formed at extremely high temperatures 
and pressures during regional metamorphism. A massive 
and highly fractured ore body, the deposit is 1.8 km long by 
500 m wide, covering 90 ha. Rutile, as an accessory mineral 
in eelogites, is disseminated throughout the entire ore body 
at approximately 3 to 5 pet. Industrial-grade garnet, at 25 to 
30 pet of the deposit, is also recoverable. Diamond drilUng 
has proven the existence of 150 million mt of ore at 6 pet 



ore are present: impregnation ores (low grade, less than 20 
pet Fe) to massive ores (high grade, greater than 40 pet Fe). 
Individual ore bodies are lens shaped and range in size from 
2 to 20 m long and 5 to 30 m wide. Their long axis is oriented 
east to west; dips are near vertical to vertical, and they 
plunge from 45° to 60° to the west. Average grades are 39 
pet megnetite, 29 pet ilmenite (13.5 pet Ti02), and 1.5 pet 
pyrite. Vanadium does not occur as distinct vanadium 
minerals but is contained in the magnetite at 0.9 pet (0.275 
pet in the deposit). The deposit was discovered in 1938, by 
tracing titaniferous float material and by subsequent 
magnetic surveys. Exploratory drilling in 1939 delineated 
two ore bodies, Otanmaki and Vuorokas, approximately 3 
km to the east. Construction and development of the mine, 
mill, and support facilities begun in 1951; a small amount of 
ore was hoisted in 1953. Over the years, production has 
increased to over 1.0 million mt/yr. Between 1953 and 1955, 
only concentrates of iron, ilmenite and pyrite were 
produced. In 1956, the vanadium pentoxide concentrate was 
added. This is now the most valuable product of the 
operation m-78). 

The Tellnes mine is located in southwestern Norway in 
the State of Rogaland, northwest of Flekke^ord. In the 
early 1950's, NL Industries' subsidiary Kronos Titan A/S 
realized that the accessible resources at its Storgangen Mine 
would soon be depleted. Exploration for other resources was 
initiated in 1954 using aeromagnetic surveying techniques, 
resulting in the discovery of the Tellnes ore body. Half of the 
ore body is under the waters of Tellnesvann (Tellnes Lake). 
The deposit is a large lens- or boat-shaped homogeneous 
ilmenite-norite intrusive in the Ana-Sira Anorthosite Massif 
of the Egersund Anorthosite Complex. It is a large complex 
covering 1,000 km^ of southwestern Norway. The deposit is 
2.7 km long and up to 450 m wide, covering 57 ha; 
mineralization was proven to a depth of 330 m. Diamond 
drilling indicated substantial ore resources of 200 to 300 
million mt at 18 pet Ti02 (39 pet ilmenite) and 23 pet Fe (2 
pet magnetite). Resources used for Tellnes in this study are 
substantially larger. Production at Tellnes began in 1960 at 
300,000 mt/jT and has increased to over 2.0 miUion mt. 
Three types of concentrates are produced: ilmenite coneen- 



SWITZERLAND 




LEGEND 
— International boundary 

• City or town 

* Deposit 



Scale, km 

Figure A-5.— Location of Italy's Piampaludo rutile deposit. 



Ti02 (rutile plus ilmenite), with another possible 300 million 
mt at 5.8 pet Ti02. Mineraria Italiana S.p.A. Milan, the 
owners, are looking for a joint venture in order to begin 
development and production (8^-86). 

Romania 

Although no deposits from Romania were evaluated in 
this study, there exist three deposits worthy of discussion. 
All heavy-mineral deposits in Romania are owned and 
operated by the Federal Government, Ministry of Mir.es- 
Geology. 

The Chituc heavy-mineral deposit is located in the 
Dobrogea Province on the Black Sea coast. The mine was 
developed in the late 1970's and has been known to have 
produced at least at pilot plant scale. The plant produces an 
ilmenite concentrate along with some zircon and garnet. The 
ilmenite concentrate cannot be used for pigment production 
owing to its high nickel and chromite content. Resources at 
Chituc have been estimated to be approximately 200 million 
mt of ore grading 0.51 pet Ti02 at the inferred resource 
level. 

The Tigveni Mine is located on the River Topolog in 
Arges Province. It appears to have been in production since 
the late 1970's. The deposit consists of several heavy- 
mineral-bearing formations of late Pliocene to early Pleis- 
tocene age. The mine produces primarily an ilmenite 
concentrate although it is possible that zircon is also 
recovered as a byproduct. Identified resources at this 
deposit have been estimated at 50 miUion mt of sand grading 
approximately 1.0 pet Ti02 from the ilmenite. 

The Glogova-Sisesti deposit is located on the banks of 
the River Motru on the boundary between Mehedinti and 
Gorj Provinces in southwest Romania. Exploration at this 
deposit occurred in the late 1970's although further 
development is not thought to have taken place. The deposit 
consists of three heavy-mineral-bearing formations of late 
Pliocene to early Pleistocene age, similar to the Tigveni 
deposit. It appears that ilmenite, rutile, zircon, and 
monazite could all be recovered. Resources have been 
estimated at 340 million mt of sand grading 0.75 pet Ti02 at 
the inferred resource level. 

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics 

Significant production of titanium in the U.S.S.R. 
began after World War II. The ilmenite-magnetite deposits 
of the Urals were the early sources. Since 1960, the fossil 
placer deposits in the Ukraine have assumed greater 
importance. Ilmenite is ^Iso obtained from titanomagnetite 
deposits in the Kola Peninsula. Other significant deposits of 
titanium in the U.S.S.R. are located in the Azov Coast, 
Kasakhstan, Siberia, Transbaikalia, and the far eastern 
provinces. Titaniferous magnetite deposits in the Caucasus 
Mountains of Armenia, discovered in the early 1970's, are 
also considered important, as well as titanomagnetite sands 
on the Kuril Island, Iturup. 

By far the most important producing titanium deposits 
in the Soviet Union are the ancient heavy-mineral placers 
along the middle reaches of the River Dnieper in the 
Ukraine. Production is centered in two main areas near Kiev 
and Dnepropetrovsk, with the latter being more important. 
Heavy minerals at this deposit ocur in thin Cretaceous- 
Tertiary sediments overlying the northeast flank of the 
Ukrainian Massif. It appears that there are two types of 
commercial titanium placers in the Ukraine, ancient littoral 
marine placers and alluvial placers. Resources for these 



deposits are not known, although the ilmenite content of the 
sands averages 20 kg/m', and some of the sands contain as 
much as 2,000 kg/m'. 

Until the discovery and development of the Ukraine 
heavy-mineral placers, the titaniferous magnetite deposits 
of the Ural Mountains were the major source of ilmenite 
concentrates for the developing Soviet titanium industry. 
Iron ore mining is the main activity in the area, but a variety 
of other mineral concentrates are being produced including 
vanadium, titanium, and more recently, rare-earth miner- 
als. Of the numerous mines in the Urals, it is believ? ! th:"' 
three of these at present are important titanium ore 
deposits, although it is known that other deposits do contain 
significant resources of titanium minerals. The three 
deposits are Gusevogorsk, Kachkanar, and Kopansk (Kusa), 
which occur in titaniferous magnetites related to basic, 
ultrabasic intrusive rocks, and amphibolites outcropping 
along the main range of the Ural Mountains. Total titanium 
resources in the Urals have been estimated as 132 million mt 
of ore at the inferred level averaging 10 pet Ti02. 

Important titanium deposits are found in the alkalie 
rocks of the northwest part of the Soviet Union, in the Kola 
Peninsula, and in the Karelia Autonomous S.S.R. Ores are 
primarily of the titanomagnetic associations and the main 
mining and processing acvitities in the area are centered in 
the iron ore formations. Five or six deposits are producing 
iron oxide and vanadium pentoxide concentrates, but it 
appears that only the Afrikanda Mine is actually producing a 
titanium dioxide concentrate, from perovskite and titano- 
magnetite. Resources for Afrikanda are not known, 
although they have been estimated as "large"; Ti02 grades 
range from 8 to 18 pet. Other present and potential sources 
of titanium on the Kola Peninsula and in Karelia are the 
apatite-nepheline (aluminum) deposits at the Khibiny Massif 
and the titanomagnetites of the Pudozhgorsk, Tsaginsk, and 
Yelet Lake deposits. 

The most recent discovery of importance is the 
titaniferous magnetites of the Caucacuses, found in 1973. 
Deposits are referred to as Kamakorskoye and Svoranzkoye 
in the region of Armenia. The area is considered very 
promising for further exploration. These deposits may be 
suitable for iron ore exploitation with ilmenite as a 
byproduct. Resources, estimated based on dimensions, are 
in the order of 100 million mt of ore grading from 0.7 to 3.7 
pet Ti02, primarily from ilmenite. 



ASIA 
lndia*Sri Lanka 

Beach sand deposits of India and Sri Lanka (fig. A-6) 
have been exploited for their monazite content since the 
early part of this century. Extraction of ilmenite and some 
rutile began in the 1920's in India and around 1961 in Sri 
Lanka. 

India's heavy-mineral sand deposits are located on the 
west coast and peninsula tip in the States of Kerala 
(formerly Travancore and Cochin) and on the east coast in 
Orissa. Orissa Mineral Sands Complex, also known as the 
Chatrapur Sand Deposit, is India's largest and newest 
deposit, located 300 km southwest of Calcutta and 22 km 
northeast of Berhampur. It is planned to come onstream in 
1985. The Chavara, or Quilon, sand deposit located on the 
west coast near the town of Quilon has produced ilmenite 
since 1932; monazite was probably recovered long before 
this. Peak production was reached in the 1940's as a result of 



40 



ORISSA 
Orissa-Chatrapur^i 

Berhampur ^ 

-O 




LEGEND 
State boundary 
Capital 
State capital 
City or town 
Mineral sand deposit 



Figure A-6.— Location of India and Sri Lanlta heavy-mineral 
sand deposits. 



World War II. A third mineral sand deposit, located on the 
peninsula tip near the town of Triandrum, the M.K., or, 
more formally, the Manavalakurichi (also known as the 
Kayankomari deposit), has been in production since 1911 
when monazite was recovered. By the mid-1920's ilmenite 
replaced monazite in importance. However, after Chavara 
was discovered, M.K.'s ilmenite was not as acceptable for 
market, at 54 pet Ti02, as the ilmenite at Chavara, which is 
60 pet Ti02. Chavara's titanium is recovered as ilmenite and 
rutile concentrates, while M.K. produces ilmenite, synthetic 
rutile, and rutile. Orissa's sand deposit vdll produce only 
synthetic rutile (from ilmenite, 51 pet Ti02) and rutile, as 
proposed in this study, although it may also produce 
monazite, zircon, and siUimanite. 



Geologically and physiologically, many similarities exist 
between these deposits, including their coastal locations. 
Wave-action-formed sandbar deposits are the most common- 
ly occurring deposits {87). With emergence, these beach 
deposits became buried by sand dunes. The Orissa- 
Chatrapur deposit is a system of transverse coastal and 
inland dunes separated by another system of lower dunes. 
Maximum elevation reached by these dunes is 17 m above 
sea level. This dune system is approximately Quaternary in 
age. 

Sri Lanka has only one major heavy-mineral sand 
deposit, Pulmoddai, a beach deposit located about 58 km 
north of Trincomalee (China Bay) and 400 km northeast of 
Colombo. It is owned by the Ceylon Mineral Sands Corp. 
(CMSC). Pulmoddai began production in 1961, although 
heavy-mineral concentrations at Pulmoddai have been 
known since the 1920's. The deposit covers an area of 3.2 
km^ approximately 7.2 km long and 46 m wide. Ilmenite is 
the major economic mineral; however, rutile, zircon, and 
monazite are also present. Origin of these sands has not 
been firmly established, although the mountainous region at 
the center of Sri Lanka has been suggested. As an 
intermediate host of the heavy minerals, the younger 
Pleistocene and Recent rocks along the coast have been 
considered. Eroded material is transported by the Ma-Oya 
River to the Kokkilai lagoon north of Pulmoddai; from there 
it is carried southward by coastal drift and offshore currents 
to the Pulmoddai deposit area. A promontory at Arisi Malaa 
acts as a barrier to further southward development. Under 
appropriate conditions, monsoon storm waves attack the 
intermediary host rock and add additional material to the 
deposit. Drill-hole exploration of the deposit has yielded a 
consistant pattern of placer sands to a depth of 6 m, where 
Precambrian crystalline rocks are f-ncountered {88). 

Because of the confusing nature of pubhshed sources 
and confidentiality, Indian and Sri Lankan mineral sand 
resources are combined into a single number and not 
discussed on property-by-property basis. Demonstrated 
heavy-mineral sand tonnages are estimated at 552 million 
mt, with inferred resources of 455 million mt; total contained 
titanium is 40 and 44 million mt, respectively. Demonstrated 
resources contain ilmenite, 33.9 million mt, rutile, 5.1 
million mt, and leucoxene, 0.6 miUion mt. Inferred tonnages 
are 41.6 million mt ilmenite and 2.1 million mt rutile. 

Resources in Southeast Asia 

Titanium resources in Southeast Asia were not included 
in this study because of the scarcity of data and the 
relatively minor impact of these resources on world titanium 
availability. The greatest potential for titanium resources in 
this region is from Malaysia where small-scale alluvial tin 
operations recover ilmenite and other heavy minerals; in 
aggregate they represent significant production. At these 
operations, ilmenite and many of the other heavy minerals 
are separated from the tin in the "amang" plants, using 
gravity and magnetic separation. Ilmenite concentrates 
range from 51 to 64.5 pet Ti02 {89). Many of the ilmenite 
concentrates prod"ced in Malaysia are sold to Japan. A 
synthetic rutile plant was built in 1976, but owing to market 
conditions, it has been inactive since 1980. Malaysia should 
continue to be a producer and net exporter of ilmenite 
concentrates so long as it is producing tin, although its 
exports of ilmenite will remain limited. The size of the 
resources of ilmenite in Malaysia is currently unknown and 
very difficult to quantify. Much of the ilmenite is stockpiled 
and never marketed. 



41 



A similar situation occurs in Thailand and Indonesia 
where ilmenite is also stockpiled as a byproduct from tin 
mining. These untreated resources of ilmenite, termed 
"amang" as in Malaysia, are currently unquantified. 
Ilmenite grades of treated amang have been reported to be 
over 53 pet TiOg (90). 

Titanium resources also are found in Korea, Vietnam, 
Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines, New Guinea, and Japan. 
Most are small prospects of alluvial beach sands or are 
associated with tin mining as in Malaysia, Thailand, and 
Indonesia. 

People's Republic of China 

Resources in the People's Republic of China are not 
included in this study. The most significant deposits of 
titanium are at Sai-Lao, Wuzhuang (Hainan Dao), Xun 
Jiang, Beihai, Guangxi, Panzhihua (Sichuan), and other 
deposits in Guangdong Province. All titanium mines and 
deposits are Government owned and, in most cases, 
operated by farmer collectives. 

Two producing titanium mines are located on Hainan 
Island off Guangdong Province (Sai-Lao and Wuzhuang). 
Mining has occurred on Hainan Island since the late 1950's 
The deposits are beach sands that have been concentrated 
along the coastline by wave action. The primary product 
produced at both these mines is ilmenite, although rutile, 
anatase, monazite, and zircon are also recovered. Resources 
for Sai-Lao have been estimated to be 203 million mt of sand 
(measured plus indicated) containing 1 pet Ti02 (as 
ilmenite). Total heavy-mineral content at Sai-Lao is 
approximately 2.5 pet. Wuzhuang is a larger deposit 
totalling 508 million mt of sand (measured plus indicated) 
but averaging only 0.3 pet Ti02 as ilmenite. The percent of 
heavy minerals at Wuzhaung is L5 pet. 

The mines that are producing titanium products in the 
Guangdong Province (mainland) are feeding five heavy- 
mineral processing plants (Dianbai, Haikang, Xiton, Yang- 
jiang, and Zhanjiang). The mines are producing from beach 
sands located along the coast that have been concentrated 
by wave action. These mines have been operating since at 
least the early 1960's. Ilmenite is the primary product from 
all of the mines, with monazite, rutile, and ziron also 
recovered. Demonstrated resources for the Guangdong 
Province operations are estimated to be 434 million mt with 
the Ti02 ilmenite grades averaging 1.1 pet. The total 
heavy-mineral content averages 1.5 pet. 

Ihnenite deposits of the Guangxi autonomous region are 
both river and beach sand deposits. Mines producing from 
these deposits feed a processing plant in the city of Beihai. 
Production of ilmenite began at Beihai in 1966, with small 
quantities of rutile, zircon, and monazite recovered in later 
years. In the late 1970's, a synthetic rutile plant was added 
to the operation for the purpose of producing welding rod 
coatings. Two-thirds of the heavy mineral concentrates 
feeding the Beihai plant originate in river sand rather than 
beach sand deposits. Indicated resources from the deposits 
feeding Beihai total 557 million mt of sand grading 0.7 pet 
Ti02 from the ilmenite. Approximately 1.5 pet heavy 
minerals are contained in the sand. 

A fairly high-grade explored ilmenite prospect in 
Guangxi is located along the Xun Jiang River. The deposit 
was discovered in the mid-1970's but has not yet been 
developed. Measured resources at this deposit have been 
estimated to be 66.7 million mt of sand containing 2.7 pet 
Ti02 from the ilmenite. The heavy-mineral content of 6 pet is 
high compared viath that of other deposits in Guangxi. 



A large vanadium titaniferous magnetite deposit, called 
Panzhihua, is located between the cities of Dukou and 
Xichang in Sichuan Province. Various products are recovered 
from this operation including ilmenite, nickel, and 
cobalt (which is presently stockpiled), a titanium slag (which 
is discarded because of its vanadium), and steel ingots. _The 
Panzhihua Iron and Steel Co. operates the processing plant, 
the blast furnace, and the steelmaking facilities. The 
operations at Panzhihua have been producing for many 
years, although the ilmenite concentrate has only been 
recovered since 1980. Proven (measured) resources at 
Panzhihua are just over 1 billion mt of ore, and as much as 5 
billion mt of additional resources have been estimated at the 
indicated level. The ilmenite grade averages 9 pet. Some of 
the ilmenite resources are contained as tailings, which also 
average approximately 9 pet TiOg. 



AFRICA 

Deposits containing titanium minerals in Africa are 
known to exist in Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta), 
Egypt, the Gambia, the Ivory Coast, Liberia, Madagascar, 
Malawi, Mozambique, Senegal, Sierra Leone, the Republic 
of South Africa, and Tanzania. Most of these deposits have 
not been extensively explored, have low tonnages and are too 
low grade to be of special interest. The two most important 
deposits, the only two African deposits evaluated in this 
study, are the Gbangbama area (also known as Mogbwemo) 
of Sierra Leone and the deposit at Richards Bay, Republic of 
South Africa. 

Sierra Leone 

Sierra Leone's heavy-mineral resources potential was 
estabhshed in 1954 with the discovery of rutile at 
Mogbwemo in the Sherbro River estuary of the Bonthe and 
Moyamba districts (fig. A-7), 100 km (400 km by road) from 
Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital city {91-92). Major 
production first occurred in 1967. Total area of the deposits 
is approximately 1,000 kml Mineral leases are held by 
Sierra Rutile Ltd., owned wholly by Nord Resources Corp. 
of Ohio. There are four separate deposits covering an area of 
1,600 ha (called collectively in this report Mogbwemo), and 
the possibility exists that more deposits will be discovered. 
Principal deposits lie between the Gbangbama and Imperri 
Hills and in the coastal plain-tidal flats zone. Primary 
sources of the sediments containing the heavy minerals are 
the Precambrian garnetiferous gneisses and other 
metamorphic rocks and granite intrusions to the north and 
northeast. Deposits consist of layers of loosley consolidated 
interbedded sands and clays with occasional laterite 
cappings {91). Rutile is the only titanium mineral recovered, 
although ilmenite is present in recoverable amounts. Other 
heavy minerals are monazite, zircon, sillimanite, and 
staurolite. None of these are of sufficient quantities to be 
recoverable. Published resource tonnages of these deposits 
range from 110 to 187 million mt of sand averaging 1.5 pet to 
2.0 pet rutile {72, 93-95). 

Republic of South Africa 

The Republic of South Africa has large resources of 
titaniferous ore in various types of deposits ranging from 
layered intrusions such as the Bushveld Igneous Complex, 
carbonatite deposits, and Kimberlite deposits to the 
numerous beach deposits, both fossil (located in the interior. 



42 




FREETOWN 



OCEAN 



LIBERIA 




LEGEND 

International boundary 

Provinical boundary 

% Capital 

^ Mineral sand deposit 



50 



100 
_J 



Figure A-7.— Location of Sierra Leone mineral sand deposit. 



such as the Waterberg and Karroo systems) and the more 
recent deposits along the east coast, Richards Bay (96). 

The most important heavy-mineral occurrences are 
located on the Republic of South Africa's east coast along a 
965-km stretch between East London and the Mozambique 
border. Heavy-mineral concentrations, known to exist in 
this area since the 1920's, have an estimated total sand 
tonnage of about 2.3 billion mt, with heavy-mineral 
concentrations of 2 to 25 pet, averaging 9 pet. The east coast 
ilmenite deposits are of relatively low grade at 48 pet 
average TiOa content and 0.14 pet ehromite. Rutile on the 
east coast runs about 91 pet TiOa {96-97), although as much 
as 93.5 pet at Richards Bay. Origin of the heavy minerals 
has not been established with any consistency. Suggested 
sources are the Karroo dolerite and Sternberg basalt; 
however, the basalt contains more magnetite than ilmenite. 

The Richards Bay Minerals operation (fig. A-8) is 
located along a stretch of eastern coastline, primarily north 
of the port-town of Richards Bay. Deposits of mineral sands 
occur as a Pleistocene coastal dune system about 2 km wide 
and aligned roughly parallel to the coast. Dunes attain 
elevations of 180 m and rest on the Port Durnford beds, a 
raised fossil beach formed by constructive wave action and 
representing an old high-water mark. Estimated sand 
tonnage is 750 million mt at 6 pet ilmenite, 0.25 pet rutile, 
and 0.4 pet zircon, with some garnet and a trace of monazite. 
Production began in 1977 with the output of rutile and 
zircon; in 1978, ilmenite and titanium slag were also 
produced. 

South Africa's west coast dune deposits are unexploit- 
able owing to the poor quality of the ilmenite, deposit size 
and configuration, and their remoteness. 



MOZAMBIQUE-^ 


-^^^ 


S W A Z 1 L A N D^<:^7 


AMAPUTA 


/r E P U B L I c m 


y^v^^ ^Richards Bay 
L E S T H 0^,X ^ J^ 


y\ y F VOurban 


/ SOUTH / 


/ y INDIAN OCEAh 


AFRICA y^ 

^East London 


r—-^ 






LEGEND 
International boundary 
Capital 
City or town 
Mineral sand deposit 

100 200 
1 1 I 



Area of 
map 

Figure A-8.— Location of Republic of South Africa's Richards 
Bay mineral sand deposit. 



OCEANIA 
Australia 

Australia's heavy-mineral beach sand deposits first 
attracted interest owing to their gold content. Between 1870 
and 1895, small-scale operations continued intermittently to 
recover this gold. Possibilities of commercial exploitation of 
the heavy-mineral sand deposits were recognized by D. H. 
Newland, who was commissioned in 1928 by Titanium Alloy 
Manufacturing Co.. of America (TAMCA), to report on the 
economic potential of these sands. Zircon-Rutile Ltd. began 
the first large-scale heavy-mineral sand mining operations in 
1933-34, producing a mixed zircon-rutile-ilmenite concen- 
trate for overseas shipment and sale to TAMCA {98, p. 8; 99, 
p. 1; 100, p. 51). 

World War II, the Korean war, and interest in atomic 
energy increased demand for rutile, zircon, and monazite 
between 1939 and the early 1950's. Later work confirmed 
that the monazite content was insufficient for large-scale 
commercial exploitation. However, at the present time, 
some monazite is stockpiled for later processing to a 95-pct 
monazite concentrate for export markets. EstabHshment in 
1954 of a commercial-scale metaUic titanium industry in the 



43 



United States and Europe continued the increased rutile 
demand and helped the rutile market become independent of 
wartime activity {98, p. 8). 

Much of Australia's heavy-mineral sand deposits are 
concentrated by wave action or by wind-sorting in both 
parallel and transgressive dunes. Wind-sorted heavy- 
mineral sand deposits generally do not compare in grade or 
size to wave concentrations. However, in some areas of 
extensive dune development, e.g., Fraser, Moreton, and 
North Stradbroke Islands, there are large quantities of 
low-grade heavy-mineral concentrations of economic import- 
ance. The interaction of tidal currents in protected waters is 
a third concentrating method. A large deposit of heavy- 
mineral sands exists on the southwest side of Moreton 
Island from the interaction of northern and southern tides. 
One dune deposit without any cover or interbedding of lower 
grade sand exists in a sheltered estuary area protected from 
waves and storm action. The concentration mechanism is 
not apparent but it does require a stable, long-continued 
concentrating condition. One mechanism is possibly the 
interaction of tidal currents and oblique waves resultant 
from east-southeast winds, which persist through most of 
the years, with constant accumulation over a lengthy period 
while the sea level gradually recedes {99, pp. 4-5). 

The occurrence of zircon and rutile of similar type and 
grain size over about 1,700 km of coastline from just north of 
Curtis Island to just south of Sydney indicates derivation 
from more than one localized source. Accumulations of 
ilmenite are considered to be more from local sources such as 
the Mesozoic and Permian sediments of the Clarence, 
Moreton, and Sydney Basins. The origin of Western 
Austrahan heavy-mineral sand deposits is beheved to be the 
Yilgarn Block, which supplied the sediments for the 
Pleistocene shorelines where these deposits occur. The 
source of Austraha's coastal heavy-mineral sands is thought 
by many in Australia to be pegmatite and quartz veins of the 
Precambrian shield {98, pp. 27-31; 99, p. 8; 100, p. 73; 101, 
pp. 21-23). 

East Coast 

Heavy mineral deposits on Australia's east coast occur 
along approximately 1,700 km of coastline, from the mouth 
of the Shoalhaven River, N.S.W., north to about Cape 
Clinton, Queensland. The 13 east coast deposits considered 
in this study are located between Sydney, N.S.W., and 
Curtis Island, Queensland, along nearly 1,400 km of 
coasthne (fig. A-9). 

Individual deposits range in size from 700 to 13,000 ha. 
Heavy-mineral concentrations commonly encountered are 
wave-concentrated deposits along present day beaches 
and/or in old strandlines. Wind-concentrated deposits are 
also present along the crests of beach and coastal dunes and 
the parallel and transgressive dune systems further inland 
from the shoreline. Estimated geologic age of these deposits 
has been placed at late Pliocene or early Pleistocene to 
Recent. Mineralogically, the four deposits of New South 
Wales (Evans Head, Munmorah, Tomago Sand Pits, and 
Yuraygir National Park) have a ratio of zircon-rutile to 
ilmenite of nearly 5.0 to 1.0, while the Queensland 
heavy-mineral deposits have a ratio of 0.54 to 1.0, a 
consequence of an increasing ilmenite content rather than a 
decreasing zircon-rutile content as the deposits go north. 
The ilmenite concentrate has a high chromite (Cr204) 
content, generally above 1.0 pet, and a low Ti02 content, 56 
pet or less, which makes it useless for the production of 
pigment unless upgraded to synthetic rutile first. 



Curtis Island 
Gladstone^ Gladstone Mainland 
Agnes Waters 




CORAL SEA 



Fraser Island 



Moreton Island 



f North Stradbroke Island 



PACIFIC OCEAN 



Evans Head 
Yuraygir National Park 



TASMAN SEA 



Bridge Hill Ridge 
Stockton Bight 



LEGEND 
State boundary 
State capital 
City or town 
Mineral sand deposit 

50 100 
I I I 



Figure A-9.— Location of Australia's east coast mineral sand 
deposits. 



44 



Munmorah-Tomago Sand Pits Area 

Deposits in the Munmorah-Tomago Sand Pits area are 
located directly to the north and south of Newcastle, 
N.S.W. Rutile & Zircon Mines (Newcastle) Ltd. (RZ Mines) 
and Associated Minerals ConsoHdated Ltd. (AMC) own the 
Tomago Sand Pits Mine and the Munmorah deposit, 
respectively. Tomago Sand Pits was in production in 1982; 
Munmorah ceased operation owing to State mining bans 
enacted in 1977. 

These deposits are concentrations of windblown sand, 
redeposited by aeolian erosion of older dunes. Heavy 
minerals average less than 2.0 pet of the total sand through 
the area. Rutile and zircon are the major ore minerals, and 
ilmenite and monazite are also available. These minerals 
represent over 90 pet of the total heavy minerals. 

Published estimates of the Munmorah area are 578,000 
mt of heavy minerals, averaging in terms of percent of the 
concentrate about 46.2 pet rutile, 22.7 pet zircon, 14.0 pet 
ilmenite, and 0.8 pet monazite (102-103). Mineral tonnages of 
the Tomago Sand Pits area were reported by RZ Mines in 1977 
to be 640,000 mt of rutile and 670,000 mt of zircon (lOi). 

Evans Head-Yuraygir National Park Area 

The Evans Head-Yuraygir National Park area covers a 
coasthne distance of about 100 km, approximately 40 km 
north of the Clarence River (Evans Head area) to 60 km 
south of the Clarence River (Yuraygir National Park area). 
Heavy-mineral deposits are mostly beach strandhnes 
concentrated at the back beach line during storms. Age 
classification of deposits is Recent and currently forming. 

This area was first mined for gold and plantinum 
between 1890 and 1900, v^ith sporadic mining to the 1930's. 
Reported heavy-mineral content of this area is 130,000 mt 
•with grades, in terms of percent of the concentrates, of 30.7 
pet rutile, 21.6 pet ilmenite, 30.8 pet zircon, and 46.1 pet 
monazite. Current owners of this area are the McGerary 
brothers and both the Federal and State governments. Most 
of this area along the coasthne is national park, and because 
of this, little production occurs {101, pp. 89-96). 

North Stradbroke Island 

North Stradbroke Island lies off the coast of Queens- 
land, Australia, separated from the mainland by Moreton 
Bay. The island is approximately 35 km long and is 8 km at 
its widest point. Two companies own mining leases on the 
island: Associated Minerals Consolidated Ltd. (AMC) and 
ConsoHdated Rutile Ltd. (CRL). Heavy-mineral deposits on 
the island occur as beach strandlines, both present and 
buried, coastal and parallel dunes, and high and transgres- 
sive dune systems. The current island ai'eas being mined are 
the old high-dune system of the eastern-central, central, and 
west coasts. These deposits are Pliocene to Pleistocene 
placer deposits formed by aeolian action. Large low grade 
heavy-mineral deposits are found to depths of over 30 m. In 
1961, the average heavy-mineral grade was estimated to be 
0.7 pet with a heavy- mineral composition, in terms of the 
percent of the concentrate, of ilmenite, 51 pet, rutile, 28 pet, 
zircon, 17 pet, and monazite, 0.12 pet (99, p. 16). More 
recent estimates of the heavy-mineral composition (102, p. 
1062) are ilm.enite, 50.1 pet, rutile, 15.8 pet, zircon, 12.5 pet, 
and monazite, 0.2 pet. AMC does not publish its heavy- 
mineral resources separately, only as part of the total of all 
its operations. Heavy-mineral tonnages reported in the 
CRL 1981 annual report are 1.5 million mt of rutile and 1.4 



million mt of zircon. Both companies are currently mining 
their heavy-mineral leases on this island. 

Moreton Island to Eraser Island 

This area includes Moreton and Eraser Islands, plus the 
intervening part of mainland Queensland, covering about 
215 km of coastline. The four deposits considered in this 
study are both the Mineral Deposits Ltd. (MDL) and 
Murphyores Holdings Ltd. leases on Moreton Island, the 
Cooloola deposit owned by the State of Queensland and the 
Federal Government, and the Eraser Island leases owned 
by Murphyores and Dillingham Minerals. 

Moreton Island is situated about 60 km off the coast 
northeast of Brisbane, Queensland. It is approximately 40 
km long and 9 km vdde at its vddest point. Four types of 
deposits exist on Moreton Island: (1) current beach deposits, 
(2) foredune and low-dune deposits near the beach, (3) 
high-dune areas, formed by the reworking of older dunes 
that existed at a higher sea level, and (4) some offshore and 
swamp areas. MDL lease holdings are mostly the high-dune 
areas of the island. Estimated heavy-mineral tonnage is 
about 3.6 million mt in 421.8 miUion mt of sand. Composition 
of the heavy mineral, in terms of the percent of the 
concentrate, is 42.8 pet ilmenite, 26.9 pet rutile, 16.6 pet 
zircon, and monazite (although no grade was reported) (105). 
Murphyores does not publish its lease holdings' sand and 
mineral tonnage. At the present time, neither owner is 
operating its leases. 

The Cooloola deposit, located on the Queensland 
mainland in Cooloola National Park, stretches along 20 km 
of coastline. Deposits consist of beach concentrations, 
northwest-trending transgressive dunes, and frontal paral- 
lel dunes backing the beach areas. Windblown dune 
coneentations occur on the crest of dunes to depths of 24 m. 
Here, as in other east coast deposits, rutile and zircon are 
the major economic minerals, about 18 pet to 20 pet, 
respectively, of the heavy-mineral fraction. However, 
ilmenite dominates the heavy-mineral fraction with a 59-pct 
average. Some monazite is also present at nearly 0.9 pet. No 
recent tonnage estimates have been published for this area. 
Since 1974, when the area was placed in the Australian 
national park system, all mining has been banned. 

Eraser Island is located off the coastline of Queensland 
approximately 12 km east of Mary Borough. The island is 
about 122 km long and from 5 to 25 km wide. About 16,300 
ha of land (10 pet of the total island area) was held as mineral 
leases in 1976 (106, p. 4). Deposits are largely high 
transgressive dunes and other areas similar to those at 
Cooloola. Murphyores and Dillingham Minerals jointly hold 
leases to the major mineralized areas, although mining is 
presently banned at Eraser Island because of environmental 
restriction by the Government. Most of the leases are 
located along the 123 km of eastern coastline, while some are 
on the south and west of the island. Estimated tonnages of 
these holding have not been published by the owners. 
Tonnage estimates in 1961 were about 1.0 million mt of 
heavy minerals along the east coast of the island. 
Composition of this estimate was 60 pet ilmenite and 16 pet 
each of i-utile and zircon (99, p. 22-23). 

Agnes Waters — Gladstone — Curtis Island 

Three deposits, Agnes Waters, Gladstone, and Curtis 
Island are located along Queensland's central coastal section 
between Bundaberg to just north of Gladstone, about 150 
km of coastline. The Agnes Waters deposit is located about 



45 



128 km north of Bundaberg near the small town of Agnes 
Waters. MDL holds the lease applications to 1,300 ha of 
land. This deposit comprises three generations of dune 
formation ranging from Pleistocene to Recent. Aeolian 
action and eustatic variations are the mechanisms of 
concentration. Rutile and zircon are the major ore minerals, 
with ilmenite and monazite as secondary minerals. A total of 
2.7 million mt of heavy minerals with an estimated content, 
in terms of the percent in the concentrate, of 60 pet ilmenite, 
10 pet rutile, and about 15 pet zircon, is present in 217.8 
million mt of sand {107, p. 5). Extensive exploration and 
feasibility studies have been carried out; however, no 
development has taken place. 

The Gladstone Mainland deposit is actually a number of 
deposits located from 15 to 60 km southeast of Gladstone. 
Mineral leases held by Murphy ores total 3,331 ha {108). Both 
aeolian and wave action have formed the heavy-mineral 
concentrations of this deposit. These concentrations are 
found in low parallel dunes near the coast and on the beaches 
adjoining the low dunes. Values of the Gladstone area's 
heavy-mineral concentrations, in terms of the percent in the 
concentrate, are 65 pet ilmenite, 5 pet rutile (some places up 
to 10 pet), zircon averaging 16 pet, with monazite variable 
up to 0.2 pet. Total heavy-mineral tonnage is estimated at 
2.6 million mt. Heavy-mineral content of the sand is 4.3 pet 
{109, pp. 17-18). Extensive reconnaissance driUing has been 
done throughout the area by Murphyores and other 
companies; however, no development has taken place. 

The Curtis Island deposit is located near the Capricorn 
Peninsula on Curtis Island, approximately 40 km north of 
Gladstone. Approximately 300 km' of coastal dunes (2,726 
ha) are covered by the deposit. Murphyores holds the 
mineral leases for the deposit. Concentrations of heavy 
minerals are found on the beaches and the northwest- 
trending parabolic dune system. The most recent heavy- 
mineral tonnage estimate (1968) is 705,000 mt containing 
concentrate with 78 pet ilmenite, 6 pet rutile, and 13 pet 
zircon. This represents only part of the Curtis Island 
tonnage {109, p. 18). Again, extensive reconnaissance 
drilling has been carried out although no development ha'^ 
taken place. 

West Coast 

Since 1956, the State of Western Australia has been a 
major ilmenite producer. Discovery and development of new 
deposits in the late 1960's to mid-1970's has continued this 
trend {100, pp. 61). 

Titanium deposits of Western Australia (fig. A-10) are 
located on the Swan Coastal Plain from Busselton north to 
Eneabba (1,300 km) and on the Scott Coastal Plain, 160 km 
south of Busselton. The majority of these deposits are found 
within 400 km north and south of Perth, W. A. , with the best 
ilmenite deposits occurring between Busselton and Bun- 
bury. West coast heavy-mineral deposits were formed under 
conditions and mechanisms similar to those that formed the 
east coast deposits, and the west coast deposits occur within 
2 or 3 km of the present coasthne at or near sea level, or up 
to 70 km inland, as much as 130 m above sea level. 

Concentrations of heavy minerals are found in "fossil" 
shorelines as buried strandlines and dune systems deposited 
in wave-cut platforms in the underlying Mesozoic basement 
rock, formed as a result of sea regression and coastline uplift 
during the Pleistocene epoch. A total of 850 million mt of 
sand at 9.6 pet heavy minerals has been estimated for this 
area. Ilmenite is the principal economic ore mineral 
estimated for the west coast. Two types of ilmenite are 



\ 



Adamson (Eneabba 
and Allied Eneabba) 



Jurien Bay 



Cooljarloo 



INDIAN OCEAN 





WW 



lAustrallnd 
Bunbur^^ 
Cable Sands, 
North CapeL 

CapalJ^Yoganup 



Ssstt il^ir 



"-■^-.s-i' 



LEGEND 
State capital 
City or town 
IVIinerai sand deposit 

50 100 



Scale, km 

Figure A-10.— Location of Australia's west coast mineral 
sand deposits. 




present, "altered ilmenite" at 65 to 85 pet Ti02, which is 
suitable for pigment production via the chlorination process, 
and "pure ilmenite" at 52 to 54 pet Ti02, which can be 
upgraded to synthetic rutile or can be used for pigment 
production via the sulfate process. Leucoxene, rutile, 
zircon, and monazite are of secondary importance (100, pp. 
65-77; no, pp. 18-19; 111, p. 419; 112, p. 627). 

An estimated total sand tonnage of 600 million mt 
averaging 10 pet heavy minerals from 14 deposits on the 
west coast was evaluated in this report. The heavy-mineral 
content, in terms of the percent of the concentrate, is 54 pet 
ilmenite, 14 pet zircon, 5.1 pet rutile, 4.4 pet leucoxene, and 
0.4 pet monazite. The remainder includes other miscel- 
laneous heavy minerals. 

The most important ilmenite heavy-mineral area is 
located south of Perth (400 km), between Bunbury and 
Busselton. The deposits of Australind, Capel (north and 
south areas), and the Yoganup area (three deposits) are part 
of three "fossil" shorelines associated with the Whicher 
Escarpment. These deposits are lenticular in shape and 
occur in sequential units of conglomerate heavy-mineral 
sands and sandy silts and clays. They are found at the 
surface to a depth of 15 m, with an average ore zone 
thickness of 5 m. Total estimated sand tonnage is 162 million 
mt at 14.2 pet heavy minerals. The heavy-mineral fraction 
content, in terms of the percent of the concentrate, is 
ilmenite, 30 pet, zircon, 6.5 pet, leucoxene, 5.0 pet, rutile 0.5 
pet, and monazite, 0.4 pet. Australind, owned by Associated 
Minerals Consohdated Ltd. (AMC), is undeveloped while 
the others are producing. Their owners are also AMC, as 
well as Westralian Sands Ltd. 

Another major west coast heavy-mineral area, discov- 
ered in the late 1960's to mid-1970's, extends for 400 km 
north of Perth along the Gingin Scarp located approximately 
70 km inland on the Swan Coastal Plain between the cities of 
Perth and Eneabba. These deposits are also associated with 
ancient shorelines 25 to 130 m above sea level and are a 
mixture of buried strandlines and dune systems formed 
during the Pleistocene epoch. Heavy-mineral concentrations 
occur within the same sequence of conglomerate and sandy 
silt and clay. Ilmenite is still the dominant titanium mineral 
at 50 pet of the heavy-mineral fraction. The remaining 
heavy-mineral fraction, in terms of the percent of the 
concentrate, is zircon, 20 pet, rutile, 8.5 pet, leucoxene, 4.2 
pet, and monazite, 0.5 pet. Depth and thickness of these 
concentrations are similar to those in the Busselton- 
Bunbury area. Estimated total demonstrated sand at these 
six deposits [Cataby, Eneabba area two, Gingin, Jurien Bay 
and Cooljarloo] is 393 million mt containing 36 million mt of 
heavy minerals. 

The Eneabba deposit is one of the most important rutile 
mines in the world. Production began there in 1974, and 
identified resources account for nearly 100 million mt of 
heavy minerals. 

Deposit owners are Metals Exploration Ltd. and 
Alliance Minerals NL (Cataby), Associated Minerals Con- 
solidated Ltd. (Eneabba), Allied Eneabba Pty. Ltd. (Allied 
Eneabba), Lennard Oil NL and Westralian Sands Ltd., 
(Gingin), Western Mining Corp. Holdings Ltd. (Jurien Bay 
area). Only the two Eneabba deposits are producing (100, 
pp. 72-73). 

The Scott Coastal Plain, 160 km south of Busselton, is 
the newest area of heavy-mineral sand exploration and 
discovery in Western Australia. The Scott River deposit is 
located in the northwest corner of the coastal plain about 7 
to 10 km inland. It was discovered in the mid-1970's. As in 
other west coast mineral sand areas, this deposit is also 



associated with former shorelines; however, the deposit 
suggests shore and backshore areas of former lake and river 
deposits rather than a coastal beach deposit. The ore zone is 
9 m thick, with about 4 m of overburden. Leucoxene, rutile, 
and zircon together make up 20 pet of the heavy-mineral 
fraction, while ilmenite is 60 pet of the fraction. No reported 
tonnage was published for the deposit; however, a total 
tonnage of 10 million mt of heavy minerals at 10 pet for the 
total area is estimated to include the Scott Coastal Plain, 
Bremer Basin, and the Leeuwin Block. Ownership of the 
deposit area has probably reverted back to the State. A joint 
exploration project by Union Oil Co. and Samedan Australia 
Pty. Ltd. failed to find significant heavy-mineral content. 

Barrambie (not shown on figure A- 10), a hard-rock 
titanium, vanadium, and iron occurrence in Western 
Australia, was included in this study because of its potential 
as Australia's largest hard-rock titanium deposit even 
though no mine presently producing slag in the world has as 
low a grade of Ti02. The deposit is owned by Ferrovanadium 
Corp. N.L. and is located approximately 420 km inland from 
Geraldton. Initial exploration began in 1968 with geological 
mapping, geophysical surveying, and percussion and di- 
amond drilling detailing the mineralization. The vanadifer- 
ous titanomagnetite deposit occurs within an Archean 
anorthositic gabbro complex approximately 20 km long and 
400 m wide. Drilling has indicated mineralization to a depth 
of 50 m. The deposit was first discovered in 1960 by H. J. 
Ward during aerial reconnaissance of the Murchison 
Goldfield. Gold has been produced from the deposit at 
various times. Total indicated tonnage of 27 million mt at 26 
pet Fe, 15 pet Ti02, 0.7 pet V2O5 was estimated based on the 
exploration. Another 415 million mt at the inferred resource 
level was also estimated, but no grades were established. 
Development plans call for open pit mining and production of 
titanium slag, low-manganese iron and flake vanadium 
pentoxide. The deposit is undeveloped and is undergoing 
feasibility and technical processing studies {113). 

New Zealand 

New Zealand's titanium-bearing sands occur on both 
the North and South Islands. Those on the North Island are 
associated with the Waikato River at Murina and Munukau 
Heads. South Island deposits are found on the west coast 
between Jackson Bay and Karamea; the most promising 
area lies between Barrytown and Westport. The South 
Island deposits contain the only significant ilmenite deposits 
in New Zealand. A churn driUing program begun in the late 
1960's found sufficient quantities and grades of heavy 
minerals plus gold, seheelite, and cassiterite to indicate a 
viable deposit. The heavy-mineral concentrations are beach 
deposits formed by wave and wind action. Deposits 
occurring along the coastline from sea level to 20 m above 
sea level have overburden and deposit thickness averaging 
1.4 and 5.2 m, respectively. Ilmenite is the titanium mineral 
of importance, at 4 pet of the total sand tonnage. Other 
minerals are rutile (0.1 pet), zircon (0.35 pet), monazite 
(0.001 pet), and gold (0.06 g/mt), along with seheelite and 
cassiterite. The ilmenite, however, is low in Ti02 (47 pet) 
and must be upgraded to synthetic rutile or the sulfate 
process must be used for pigment production. Total sand 
tonnage of the area is estimated at 1.0 million mt (llA, p. 
16). Fletcher-Challenge Ltd. at one time had an interest in 
this property although no development was ever under- 
taken. If land for mining is ever developed, it would have to 
be bought or leased from various farmers, who use some of 
the area for grazing land. 



47 



APPENDIX B.—TITANIUM DIOXIDE PIGMENT 



Under current technology, the two processes for 
producing Ti02 pigment are the chloride process and the 
sulfate process. The two major factors that influerice which 
process is selected are (1) the availability of the raw 
materials (ilmenite or titanium slag for the sulfate process; 
rutile, synthetic rutile, titanium slag, or leucoxene for the 
chloride process and (2) environmental concerns related to 
soHd and hquid waste disposal (this problem is less severe 
for the chloride process than for the sulfate process). 
However, the diminishing supply of rutile resources is a 
concern to producers using the chloride process. A 
description of each process is given below. 



of water or weak sulfuric acid. This solution is passed over 
scrap iron to convert all ferric sulfate [Fe3(S04)2] to ferrous 
sulfate (FeS04) if ilmenite was the feed material. The 
resultant solution is clarified by filtration. The clarified 
solution is then cooled to 10° C in vacuum crystahzers where 
about 50 pet of the ferrous sulfate precipitates out as 
copperas. After further concentration and filtration, the 
hquor containing soluble titanyl sulfate [Ti(S04)2] is 
hydrolyzed by injection of steam. By careful seeding 
techniques, either an anatase-grade or rutile-grade titanium 
pigment may be produced. Typical titanium recoveries 
range from 80 pet to 85 pet Ti02, depending on the Ti02 
content of the feed material (115). 



CHLORIDE PROCESS 

The chloride process was introduced commercially in 
1956 by Du Pont. This process primarily utihzes as material 
feed stock, rutile, synthetic rutile, or other high-grade Ti02 
sources. The one exception is Du Font's special patented 
process which uses a mixture of rutile, leucoxene, and 
ilmenite, ranging from 63 to 80 pet Ti02. 

For the chloride process, materials are chlorinated at 
850° to 950° C in a fluid-bed reactor in the presence of oxygen 
and a carbon source. The products are titanium tetrachloride 
(TiCU) and other titanium and iron chlorides. The TiCU is 
separated and purified by fractional distillation. The product 
is then oxidized with air or oxygen, yielding Ti02. Typical 
recovery for the chloride process, depending on the Ti02 
content of the feed material, is 90 pet (115). This process is 
now able to produce both anatase-grade and rutile-grade 
Ti02 pigments, although the anatase grade is usually a 
mixture of anatase and rutile (70/30). 



SULFATE PROCESS 

The majority of world Ti02 pigment plants use the 
sulfate process. Their raw materials are ilmenite or titanium 
slag from ilmenite. In a typical sulfate process, feedstock is 
ground to minus 200 mesh, then leached with concentrated 
sulfuric acid, agitated with air, and heated to 110° C by 
steam in a batch reaction tank. The reaction requires an 
acid-to-ilmenite ratio of 1.3 to 0.8, with the ilmenite added 
over a period of from 15 to 30 min. A soHd mass of soluble 
titanium and iron sulfate and insoluble compounds is 
produced. The soluble sulfates are dissolved by the addition 



TITANIUM PIGMENT PLANT COSTS 

Table B-1 gives the capacity, capital, and operating cost 
of typical titanium pigment production for both the chloride 
and sulfate processes in various parts of the world (116). 
These costs include construction of all necessary facilities 
and infrastructure to initiate production and to produce a 
commercially marketable pigment product. Labor, energy, 
and material costs are also included. In some cases, as in 
Japan, the costs of pollution control equipment are included; 
these costs can add from $90/mt to $120/mt to the cost of 
titanium pigment production. 



Table B-1.— Typical capital and operating costs of titanium 

dioxide pigment plants by region, January 1981 dollars (116) 

Capacity, Capital °PT$!mt 

Region and plant type 10' mt/yr cost, concentrate 

TiO, pigment 10^ ^°"S 

Australia: 

Chloride 33,000 63,000 1,p38.6 

Sulfate 33,000 58,125 911.9 

50,000 74,600 710,7 

Japan; Sulfate 33,000 88,300 '873.4 

50,000 120,000 '632.1 

Spain: Sulfate 25,000 65,000 '509 2 

50,000 100,000 '487.9 
United States: 

Chloride ^ggooo 143,832 ^B^^.7 

Sulfate ^66,250 NA ^755.3 

NA Not available. 

'Costs do not include cost of feed material or depreciation or return on 
investment. 
^Costs are averaged based on available data. 



APPENDIX C— TITANIUM SPONGE AND METAL PRODUCTION 



There are two processes for the production of titanium 
sponge: the Kroll and Hunter processes. Both involve the 
use of magnesium or sodium to reduce TiC^. 

The Kroll process, using magnesium, is the most widely 
used. The reaction takes place in a sealed, pressurized 
vessel, previously purged with argon or helium, from which 
a mass of titanium metal and soluble magnesium chloride 
(MgCl2) are produced. This mass is removed from the 
reaction vessel by a special boring machine and washed to 
dissolve the MgCl2. The MgCl2 is sent to electrolytic cells 
that separate it into chlorine and magnesium metal, which 
are both recycled. The chlorine can be used in the 



chlorination of the titanium feed material, if necessary, and 
the magnesium metal is used in the reduction reaction. 

ine production of titanium sponge is only an intermedi- 
ate process to the final production of the metal form. Special 
techniques such as double arc melting, electrolytics, or the 
iodide process are used to produce the metal. Estimated 
capital costs for titanium sponge plants range from $10,000 
to $18,000 per annual ton of sponge produced. One total 
capital cost estimate is $138 million for a 7,000-mt/yr plant, 
with an operating cost of $5.49/lb of sponge (1982 U.S. 
dollars) (ii 7). 



i^U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICf 1986- tf98'--733-if2it30 



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llNUtHY INU. ^ 

^v JUN 86 

Bfei^ N. MANCHI 



N. MANCHESTER, 
INDIANA 46962 






